Lost in Time
by DESTINYSARA
Summary: Takes place after Son of Sobek and Staff of Serapis. Carter and Sadie team up with Percy and Annabeth to take down Setne who is still trying to make himself a god and throw the Greek/Egyptian worlds into chaos. The only thing that can take him down was rumored to be destroyed millennia ago but Egypt's still harbors secrets beneath it's sands.
1. Chapter 1: Opening of The Tomb

Lost in Time

"_You cannot rush perfection. The most beautiful flower takes the longest to bloom."_

_Valley of the Queens, Egypt_

A brush swept past the sand covered wall and revealed the cracks in the edges. The wall was a door. Dr. Zahi Hawass pulled hard on the door with his hand until it gave way. Slowly, it pulled away until he could open it completely. Thousands of years worth of dust poured from the newly opened wall. Dr. Hawass covered his face and waited for the dust to settle and air out. He walked slowly inside and lowered his face scarf. Gold glittered off the sunlight that poured in. Reflected from mirrors in the corners. Light blinded him and he was forced to cover his eyes. After a moment, the glare became bearable and he looked. A richly adorned tomb lay before him. Its ceiling painted with the stars, the walls showing Ra's immensely difficult journey to the underworld. Statues of Isis stood protectively around the sarcophagus. Obviously a royal tomb, fit for a pharaoh.

Dr. Hawass quickly retrieved his camera and began snapping photographs of his newest discovery, unknowing to him just how valuable it truly was.

The next day, Hawass and his team attempted to cut around the sarcophagus. Trying to unseal the lid from the bottom. One tap with the knife and the lid moved. Its seal pre-cut. A look of confusion passed between them. Grave robbers cut the seals to steal jewels from the mummy but what robber would leave behind the vast treasure? Hawass had been the one to find and break the seal to the tomb. Guarded overnight, no one had been allowed in. Only one theory could have been possible. The sarcophagus had not been sealed when it was placed into the tomb. But why?

Dr. Hawass dusted the lid of the sarcophagus to fully reveal a painted head of a woman. Her gold headdress depicting a vulture marked her as a royal wife. It crowned a face more lovely than Nefertiti. The hieroglyphs written below her face translated easily enough; sat nesut en khetef merytef Hetepheres II.( Beloved King's daughter of his body Heterpheres II.)

Hetepheres II was known to be a daughter of Khufu, the pharaoh whom built the great pyramid. The greatest pharaoh of the fourth dynasty. She was the longest lived royal apart from Ramesses the great. Hetepheres's first tomb was to be shared with her first brother- husband, Kawab. Since she outlived him and remarried, her half of the tomb was abandoned. When her second brother Djedefre took the throne after Kawab and Khufu died, she became his wife and therefore queen of Egypt. She outlived him as well and may or may not have married Khafre when he became pharaoh . Records show that she lived into the reign of Menkaure, Khafre's son. Menkaure married the daughter of Hetepheres II and Kawab. It seemed that Meresankh III died suddenly before Menkaure's pyramid was complete. Hetepheres gave up her own tomb in the Valley of the Queens for Meresankh. Sometime after the death of her daughter, she vanishes from history. Her final tomb was lost. Until now.


	2. Chapter 2: Egypt's Greatest Treasure

Hawass snapped a few photos of the sarcophagus before reaching to open it. Expecting an empty coffin, a workman grabbed the other end of lid and gently pulled it off and to the floor. The sarcophagus was not empty. A pregnant silence filled the air, the coffin was not only occupied but the body was not like any mummy they had encountered before. The skin was not dried out and cracked like a mummy, it was soft and filled like live tissue. Closed eyes filled the eye sockets as in life. Veins were visible beyond the skin. The woman looked to be alive, rather than dead. Her body had not been mummified. The team was stunned into silence. The bodies were always mummified by the fourth dynasty. The poor were mummified by the sand and sun, those with wealth were mummified by a chemical process. Zahi put his left hand on her right arm. She was soft instead of the rock hard like other mummies. The girl looked so alive that Zahi shook her softly, thinking her to be a dream. She didn't move. How could a non-mummified body last five thousand years?

Dr. Zaharia took a picture of the girl and motioned to Zahi. " What do we do with her?"

Dr. Hawass shook his head. "We investigate."

The queen's body had been carried out and placed inside the car to prevent as much damage as possible while her tomb treasures were hauled out on various carts to the Cairo museum. Each item was dusted and inspected before it was placed into the back sealed room until it could be properly placed in the museum. A great number of shabtis, statutes and priceless jewelry were recovered. Along with a throne, clothing, make up and various golden animals, including her mummified cat. Furniture such as her bed was placed nearby along with a near endless supply of dried and preserved foods and jugs of wine.

She had a tomb prepared but yet her body was not prepared, at least not in the usual way. Her body was removed from the lower half of the sarcophagus and placed in a wooden lightweight casket, similar to ones that carried the mummies on display. Drs . Zaharia and Hawass covered her body with a sheet as if she was no different than any mummy one expected to find in the valley. His remaining team members arrived shortly after and helped carry in the heavy sarcophagus.

"Find some treasure, sir?" A voice called from one of the men unloading the sarcophagus.

"Yes." Hawass answered. "Wonderful treasure."

The princess was carried inside the museum. Safely tucked into a wooden coffin, covered with a sheet to protect her from prying eyes until the scientists could unravel her mysterious secret. The coffin was taken past the rows of displayed mummies, spanning the long rule of Egypt. Rooms glittered with golden treasuries, encased within glass. Treasures beyond words.

Her coffin was placed on a lab table and the white sheets were removed. A look of shock filled the room as the scientists observed her surreal preservation before getting to work. Covering themselves in lab coats masks, clothes and caps to prevent contamination, they took sample of DNA from her bone marrow, the only to retrieve DNA from a mummy. After some pause they took small skin samples and a vial of blood. In death blood coagulates and hardens to a solid. Her blood was still liquid.

Uneasiness crept into the room. Had he not been there himself, Zahi would swear the girl was a prankster, pretending to be asleep in order to spook the team. Drawing bone marrow leaves even grown men wailing in pain. This was no ordinary girl. Tests on the fabric of her dress and necklace proved their authenticity. Gathering their supplies, the team took her body to the special lab in the following room, reserved only for royal mummies and their DNA.

Hetepheres was placed on a retractable tray, pulling her into the machine. Red lines covered her head to toe, scanning every inch of her. Soon the images uploaded to a computer. The image of a perfect skeleton popped onto the screen for viewing. On the deepest level of viewing, the body was intact. Swollen joints possibly indicating age, but otherwise an undamaged skeleton. Flipping the scan around to view the back of the head. They measured her skull lines, trying to figure her age. The lines put her age around sixty. If this was correct, then her body was preserved amazingly well. The fountain of youth harnessed in the ancient world perhaps. But why was her blood wet?

On a softer level, the scan searched her body for organs. Again, unlike her ancestors and predecessors, she contained all of her organs within her body. A detailed inspection could not find any cause of death or injury. She seemed to have died of old age as expected. Rare but it was Egyptologists believed for years. Every apart from her appearance was normal. On a whim, Dr. Zaharia focused in on her heart. Perfectly preserved like her body but unlike the rest of her, it moved. One small thump, then another and another. The Queen was alive.


	3. Chapter 3: An Old Legend

Sadie

A reporter shoved a microphone in Zahi's face. "Dr. Hawass, can you tell us what you found earlier this week?"

"Yes and a no. We have found a tomb, a sealed tomb in the valley of the queens. "

"What dynasty is the tomb from?"

"The tombs is from the fourth dynasty of Egypt . The golden age of Egypt. The time of the pyramids."

"Were there remains present in the tomb?"

Zahi fumbled. "Yes. There was a body of a queen present in the tomb."

The reported stuck the microphone further in his face. "Do you have an identity for the queen?"

"The sarcophagus named her as Queen Hetepheres II but we have no proof yet that it is her. The faces match. The face on the sarcophagus and on the uh mummy match. We are in the process of looking for mummies to test the dna and confirm her identity. We are not having much luck. Hetepheres II was the daughter of the great Khufu, his body has never been found. Her mother is a mystery, we do not know which queen bore her. We have almost no mummies from the fourth dynasty to test her against. Her father is missing, her mother is unknown, her brothers are missing. We have one blood relative found. One body. Hetepheres II had a daughter, Meresankh III. Right now, we cannot retrieve dna from Meresankh that isn't contaminated with resin. All samples contain resin from the mummification and we cannot get a clear sample to test."

"Dr. Hawass, do you think it is the queen?"

"I believe it is, yes. The two ladies look alike the faces are a perfect match in my opinion."

"Well thank you for your time. We'll let you get back to your investigations. A great find in Egypt."

"Yes, thank you. Today we discovered the greatest find of ancient Egypt. We will never find anything as extraordinary as this again."

The tv clicked off. Carter smirked.

"If only he knew how truly wrong he is." Cleo noted.

"What is so special about one bloody tomb?" I asked.

"Sadie, the tomb is intact, like Tut's. Tombs are never intact, their stuff was always stolen by grave robbers." Carter explained.

"The bodies are almost always destroyed or stolen during the raids. It's sad. The point of mummification is to preserve the body for an afterlife. If the body is badly damaged or destroyed, the ba will not rejoin the body and enter the fields of offerings. No body, no afterlife. Stolen from the by thieves." Walt mumbled softly.

The room went silent.

"So, they found a dusty old tomb with a bunch of junk in it and damaged dead person. How lovely."

Carter rolled his eyes. "It's a major find, Sadie. Equal to that of Tut's tomb."

I shrugged. Seen one pile of dusty Egyptian stuff and you've seen it all.

"Finding an intact tomb. Man, that's the find of a lifetime. I would have liked to have been there." Cleo said wistfully.

"We can go and visit the tomb ourselves as long as you get the mummy's curse instead of me." Felix piped up.

"There is no curse Felix."

"Is too."

"There is no mummy's curse because there is no mummy, guys." Walt spoke up.

"But they said they found the queen's remains." Cleo argued.

"A body , yes. Dead? No. She was never dead."

Cleo unrolled a papyrus scroll across the des in the great library. "According to legend, the pharaoh Khufu had around fifty sons but no daughters. Everytime one of his queens would try to deliver a daughter, the child died and sometimes the queens died too. Without a daughter, it's the same thing as if he had no son. The bloodline would die out. In ancient times, a prince would marry his sister or aunt or cousin. Any royal female really, for the purpose of continuing the bloodline."

"Ew. Brothers marrying sisters." I said.

Carter sighed. "Sadie, Menes was the first pharaoh and left behind a set of rules. Rules for future pharaohs , his sons. The rules were meant to ensure stability in Egypt. In its rulers for instance, no pharaoh can marry a foreigner for fear that a foreign country might have claim to Egypt's throne through the pharoah's half Egyptian heir. He also said that whenever you conquer a country, you must kill off their ruling family because the people will never see you as their leader if their own royal bloodline survives. "

"Cheery person then."

He sighed again. "His rules made sense, they provided order but they also created chaos. If a pharaoh had to marry a royal and had to marry an Egyptian, often times they had no choice but to marry their own family members. It kept the bloodline of the pharaoh pure Egyptian and pure royal. It wasn't gross for them. Besides Isis and Osiris are brother and sister."

"Still gross."

Cleo tapped her nails on the desk. "Anyway, he had no daughters. Maybe he wanted to play barbies with a baby girl as a dad. Maybe he wanted a smaller version of his wives. Maybe as a ruler, he wanted to ensure his bloodline and provide a royal wife for his son. I don't know. In any case, he went to the temple of Isis and made a substantial offering to her."

She unrolled another scroll. "According to legend, she answered him. She left him an infant in her temple the next day. Blessed with eternal life, he named for his mother Hetepheres."

"What happened to her?" Carter asked.

"The scrolls never say. She simply vanished in Khafra's reign. No record of her death, no mention of a tomb. Nothing. She simply vanished into thin air." Cleo said.

"A princess from ancient Egypt slept in a tomb for five thousand years only to be discovered by a team of modern day Egyptologists. Bet they were in for a shock. "Hello boys long nap. Mind fetching me some ice water?" I laughed.

Cleo nodded."I'm sure the discovery terrified them. Carter, if she wakes up and the mortals realize what has happened…Who she is…"

"I know, we'll have to intervene. We'll tell everyone at dinner and travel to the first nome in the morning."

_Thank you to those who have favorited and/or are following the story. Glad someone is reading it._

_I'll try to post a chapter on a weekly schedule_

_I also appreciate feedback._


	4. Chapter 4: Prophecy

Annabeth

Rockaway beach had yet to recover from its latest disaster. First a hurricane then a freak wind storm bringing down an abandoned building. Some places never catch a break. Though no mortal would ever believe that an Egyptian/ Greek god came back into the mortal world and tried to create a domain for himself, out of the rubble of the mortal world. His rise had been the fault of Setne, an evil magician back from the dead.  
Thanks to a team of Egyptian and Greek godlings. That was a new one. First you find out you're a halfblood then you find out there are Romans halfbloods too, now Egyptians. My head wanted to split open with possibilities.

Percy and I had gone to see Chiron in secret and told him of their adventures with Carter and Sadie. He had been teaching me the Egyptians myths since then. Man, I thought my myths were weird. The Egyptians owned weird. Gods were human with animal heads, Isis conceived Horus when Osiris was dead but was most disturbing was the myth about the book of Thoth.

Ramesses the Great had a son named Khaemwaset who called himself Setne. Setne was obsessed with books and learning.A prince of Egypt would normally spend his days training in battle or hunting. Setne was happiest in the royal library, surrounded by scrolls. The god Thoth, recorded everything in creation. History of the worlds, Egypt among others. He recorded each god in great detail as well as the creation of the world and every spell Isis herself created. The knowledge and secrets of the universe in one book. Setne desired the book and as a child of Athena, it was easy to relate to. How many times did she herself wish that the Caesar had not burned the Library of Alexandria? His act destroyed an ancient marvel, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and a collection of documents from Egypt, Greece, Persia, India. The library's scrolls were worth more than all the gold in the world. All of that knowledge was lost.

Setne tracked the book of Thoth down to Memphis where there was a tomb for the first prince whom had stolen the sacred book before. After a game against the prince's spirit using deceit, Setne won and stole the book. Thoth cursed him like the prince before him. Setne's son died during the trip back to Thebes and then Setne himself fell into wild dream where he had lost everything to him. The bodies of those he had loved were taken and hidden away as part of the curse. Only when he restored the book to its resting place, did the curse fade.

I paced the floor in the big house's living room. "If Setne stole the book before and was cursed into returning the book , why did he steal it again?"

"He still wants the book and its powers but he was stopped by the gods. He resents them and whatever his plans are, his power needs to be equal to the gods if not superior before he can go through with his schemes. " Chiron answered.

"Setne wants to become a god. Is it possible for him to use the book and become a god? Chiron, can that happen? "

Chiron sighed. "It is more than possible, it has happened once before. Imhotep was a vizier to the pharaoh Djose in the third dynasty. He was born mortal but soon became a god himself. He was jack of all trades you might say. A priest, scribe, doctor and was a patron of astronomy and architecture, all while he was mortal. According to papyrus scrolls, he designed the step pyramid at Saqqara for the pharaoh Djose. In legend, Thoth took a liking to him, perhaps due to his vast desire for knowledge or perhaps because Imhotep once returned the gods' sacred book to him…"

"The book was lost before? First lost then stolen now stolen again. Maybe the god should consider keeping an eye on his stuff." Percy quipped.

I resisted the urge to smile as Chiron continued.

"When Imhotep returned the book to its master, Thoth granted him immortality through the book. Because it is also a spell book in addition to being a record of history, it is capable of great and dangerous magic. The story is that Imhotep himself gave himself godhood by reciting a spell in the very book."

"How to become a god for dummies, Endorsed by Imhotep, god of lost and found." Percy smiled.

I nudged his arm.

"Joke as you may, Percy. This is no laughing matter. Raising a god is no easy task, anyone that can wield that kind of magic is dangerous. Becoming a god would make Setne nearly indestructible and the god he raised…..Sometimes things are best left in the past, Percy. Raising the god will prove to be as disastrous as raising Kronos again. " Chiron said.

"Is there any way to beat them? Setne and Serapis?" I asked.

"That seems to be the question, my dear. In war your greatest weapon is always knowledge, Annabeth. The more you know about an enemy, the greater your chance of defeating them. But in this, I cannot help. Though Ptolemy the First made him what he is, he was and is an Egyptian god. His history is recorded in a language I am not skilled in. Perhaps your new allies, the Egyptians might help you in that department. Consult with Rachel before you leave. I will tell the others at dinner."

Percy and I went to Rachel's cave and repeated to her their discussion with Chiron. Rachel looked between them as if trying to decide whether they were being serious.

"Ancient Egyptians? In Brooklyn."

"Romans in California, Greeks in Manhattan." I piped up.

"Fair point." Rachel shrugged . "I assume you need a prophecy for your quest?"

Percy and I nodded.

Green tendrils of smoke rose from the floor and danced around her.

A hissing sound overtook the evening's silence like a chorus of snakes singing or possibly laughing.

_Across the sea, in the land of sand_

_The prince's ambition is again at hand_

_The sleeping queen must you wake_

_Worlds of gods lie at stake_

_Find the crown of eternal life_

_And bring an end to the god's strife_

Rachel's knees went weak and she quickly sat down on her bunk. The green smoke faded away and the hissing stopped.

Percy looked at me. "What does it mean?"

He was used to me having the answers all of time. Rarely was I ever lost. Then the conch horn sounded announcing dinner.


	5. Chapter 5: Run Like An Egyptian: Part 1

Carter

"_Where were we? Oh right. Dr. Zahi Hawass located a tomb in the valley of the queens. According to Walt, the queen in the tomb wasn't dead. She was alive. Cue the Frankenstein music, Sadie. _

_Anyways, she had slept since the days of the pharaohs. Ancient pharaohs I mean, not me. So, to keep some things a secret from the mortals, Brooklyn House was going to Egypt."_

The swirling sands of the portal dumped us on a bed of hot sand. I mean hot like fire. No wonder the Egyptians wore sandals. Mid afternoon and it would feel like walking on coals. Too bad the Egyptians never invented the Olympics, we would have won the marathon competition.

I spit out a glob of sand and blinked against the harsh light. Home in Egypt. Since dad was an Egyptologist we lived in Egypt for years, taking only minor breaks to do lectures in other places. Egypt was home, present and past. Our initiates stumbled to regain their footing. Flying through portals is an art you don't really get use to. Bast is the only one graceful enough to land on her feet. Cats have all the luck.

The pyramids of Giza towered in the west. Life buzzed in the east. A city nearly as manic as Manhattan. Cairo, Gateway to the world. The smell of molasses and spices seemed to fill the air. I nudged Sadie and our initiates and pointed to the Cairo museum. Our mission would not be easy. Kidnap an ancient Egyptian queen who was still alive after thousands of years. A quick in and out, assuming all went well which of course never happens.

We stood on the steps of the museum and went over our plan. Sadie would distract the guards with her talking. Something she excels at, Felix and the others would distract the visitors while Walt and I would steal**, **um sorry, borrow the queen and open a portal to Brooklyn House. Sadie would later open a portal in the museum and carry the rest of our initiates back home. I bought our tickets and handed them out along with a map.

"There are two main floors open to the public. The lab should be in the basement. That's where they test DNA and catalogue new finds. That should be where they're keeping her. We'll grab the body during the commotion and on your way out, pull the fire alarm to get away. Walt and I will take the basement, Sadie, you take the basement guards.

Jaz, Zia and Cleo take the ground floor with the younger kids, Felix, Talibah, Adom and Jullian, you guys take the top floor. Remember, don't damage anything and if you do, fix it before you leave. Okay?"

Everyone nodded." Good. Let's go."

Felix ran to the second floor and summoned his army of magic penguins. Where-ever they walked, the floor froze to ice. Visitors began to slip and slide, grabbing to the safety poles and using them to slide to the staircase down.

Jaz, Zia and Cleo spread out around the ground floor acting as guides. They each stood in a section of the floor and give out lectures on the displayed relics. Who better to give lectures than our librarian, a true native born Egyptian and Jaz who is our top student? People flocked to them to listen to their informative lectures. So far so good.

Sadie , Walt and I hurried down to the basement do our part. Sadie went in to distract the guards with her talking. "Oh my gods, do you know where the restroom is? What's in there? Are you guarding something? Can I see? Do you work out? What does this button do?" The "Somebody touched something" alarm rang out and everything in sight flashed red.

The guards never even saw Walt and I as we slipped past them. One room contained nothing but jewelry spread out on a table, the next contained shabtis and the next contained furniture.

"_Ow. Sadie informs me that you don't really care about the stuff in the rooms. Well, excuse me for thinking otherwise. "_

Every room seemed to be holding some part of the queen's treasures but no room held her. Walt and I split up. _"I know what you're thinking. You never split up, that's when bad things happen. Look at your time in Paris and the land of the red sands and the land of demons. Well, I thought this time would be different. My mistake."_

I followed the series of rooms to the back where the laboratories were located. Apart from a few lonely scientists who gave me very odd looks, everything seemed empty. As if to make things as complicated as possible, the tucked the queen away in the last room underground.

They had her set up like a coma patient in a hospital. Stuck in a hospital bed and hooked up for a million machines monitoring her breathing and heart rate. Looking at her, I admit it was weird. I'd seen dozen of mummies and artifacts from tombs but it was like someone had pulled her straight from the past.

I shook her arm. Nothing.

"_Hey, it was worth a try_."

I unhooked her heart monitor and cringed when it flatlined and blared in alarm. I hurriedly undid the rest of monitors and tried to pull her from the bed with avail. What's the Egyptian term for dead weight? Heavy. She couldn't pull herself up so I had to do all the work. I pulled and she moved some but fell back against the bed. I huffed and concentrated, borrowing some super strength from Horus before pulling on her again. She tumbled into the floor and knocked me down. I huffed again and laid my head back against the floor. A shuffling sound caught my attention.

A jet black scorpion emerged from under the bed and began scurrying about the room. I was fine until it climbed on my pant leg and I started screaming my head off. Walt ran into the room, most likely thinking he was saving my sister. He swatted the thing off my leg and stepped on it.

Then lots of things happened all at once. People yelled in Arabic, someone, I assume Sadie pulled the fire alarm and ground shaking roar bellowed over the building's intercom system .

Walt helped me carry the queen out of the room and out through the basement. We expected guards to try to stop us but they fled up the stairs, not bothering to look back. Walt and I managed to carry her up the basement stairs and sat her on one of those couches by Tut's mask. Zia and our initiates were guiding people towards the exit as the glass cases around them exploded with the second roar. A shadow fell over the group and everything went suddenly quiet.

I turned and before was a sphinx the size of tank. A beautiful lioness with the head of woman, she growled and exposed her fangs. All I could think of to say was "Hi, Kitty." She snarled and we ran.

_Thanks to all who follow/fav ._

_Cookies with sprinkles to those who leave reviews.:)_

_Hopefully you enjoyed it. Part 2. Should unite the two sides and really start up the action of the series. In honor of his b-day, part 2 will be done in Percy's POV. _


	6. Chapter 6: Here, Kitty Kitty

Percy

Grover once told me the God Pan's name was often used to create many words. For instance, camp dinner was pan-demonium. When dinner was done, Chiron announced the big secret. "Heroes, there is an announcement to be made." He gestured to me and I stood. Thank the gods, Annabeth stood with me.

_(")How to say this? Hmm. Direct approach I think.(")_

"There's another camp I believe... I think. I mean, we found other people like us who are not exactly like us. Like the Romans are like us and at the same time, they're not like us."

A bunch of confused looks circled around the camp.

Annabeth took over the conversation. "What he means is Percy and I found other halfbloods like us during our time in the mortal world. They helped us defeat monsters and… they're Egyptian, not Greek or Roman. There's a third camp. An Egyptian camp out there somewhere. In the Brooklyn area, we've been told.**"**

A surge of voices charged forth. Arguing, chaos, disbelief. Why disbelief, I wasn't sure. Finding out you're a demigod is a hard pill to swallow. Finding the Romans and believing in their existence was easier but stillhard. After all this, you'd think they would be over the shock that we're not alone. Like they would shrug and say "'Kay. Want to play some video games?" Like it was no big deal.

The gods of the pharaohs were real. There's another mythology to the mix. Yay. The Egyptian gods were running amok with the rest of the gods**, **I assume. Half animal, half human. Probably off spawning demigods, and watching them fight monsters as some part of reality tv show. I can see it now. Cheesy music and an announcer's voice. "In this episode of "A million ways to kill a demigod" we have King Tut, son of um that blue dude fighting the sphinx**,** in a fight to the death." No big deal. Totally normal. Hephaestus would air it on his channel Hephaestus TV, and after two seasons Janus would cancel it. Circle of life, mythologically speaking of course.

Chiron stamped his hooves and the crowd went silent. "Now I understand this is a lot to take in. You have many questions, and concerns that we will address once we have all the information. Unfortunately at this time, our information is very limited. What we do know is what has been said. There is another camp in the Brooklyn area. These new children are descendants of Egypt and its gods. So far, we know of two of them, Carter and Sadie Kane. They have been friendly, and have proven to be valuable allies in the fights of our campers. Regardless, it seems we are to be thrown into yet another war of the gods. Only this time, the war is against Setne, a powerful mortal returned from the dead."

_(")Now, you'd think Chiron of all people would know that names have power and should be used sparingly. We all occasionally forget that rule, maybe he forgot too, or maybe he thought that using a mortal's name would cause no harm….Well, it did…(")_

When he said the magician's name, a roar sounded from deep in the forest. No one made a sound. It was creepy when the monsters let you know that it's time for you to toss them your leftovers. Then it roared again. Everyone looked around nervously but no one moved. We had a number of monsters stocked in the woods for training. Mrs. O'Leary was my pet hellhound, she was the biggest monster that lived in the forest.

Chiron swished his tail in agitation before continuing. "Rachel has issued a prophecy for us regarding the upcoming war." He gestured to her and she stood. She took a breath and steadied her nerves.

"_Across the sea, In the land of sand_

_The prince's ambition is again at hand_

_The sleeping queen must you wake_

_Worlds of gods lie at stake_

_Find the crown of eternal life_

_And bring an end to the god's strife"_

Rachel sat down as Chiron explained. "The land of sand clearly means Egypt. The prince I believe is Setne, son of Ramesses the Great.**"** Another roar sounded in the forest. The roar sounded bigger than Mrs. O'Leary and more catlike. It sounded like the Nemean Lion I had vanquished with a freeze-dried ice cream sandwich on a trip to that space museum in Washington D.C. I froze. That was not a good memory.

A final roar and the creature sprang from the woods. A massive sandy blur jumped from the cover of the woods and pounced on the main table, knocking it over. After a stunned moment, all of us jumped to our feet. The monster turned towards the rest of us and growled. The body was a giant sandy lion, the face was human. Typical for a sphinx, but the monster was still…wrong. Greek sphinxes were always female, this one was male and he had no wings. I could only hope that he had no riddles either. The fangs and claws were doable but I hate it when people test you mentally.

I pulled my pen from my pocket and clicked it. Riptide sprang to life. The sphinx hissed like a cat. Celestial Bronze is never a welcomed sight to monsters, one touch and its back to Tartarus. Thanks to my recent trip through the pit, I'd almost felt sorry for it. Almost. I kept an eye on the monster and searched for Annabeth. She had drawn her dagger and her eyes met mine. A camp full of demigods against a single monster. Piece of cake.

The Ares cabin lead the assault, circling the sphinx. Clarisse grabbed her spear and poked at him. He snarled and swiped at her. Annabeth jabbed at him with her dagger. The monster crouched down and growled. He was going to pounce. I had just enough time to yell her name when he jumped. He knocked Annabeth to the ground and roared.

Blood roared in my ears and I struck. I aimed for his neck but he caught my blade in his mouth and shook it like a dog toy. "Clarisse! Now!" I yelled.

She stuck the sphinx right in his rib cage and he growled but didn't vaporize. She removed her spear and the sphinx poured sand from the wound. His eyes blazed red and he snarled. His pelt steamed smoke and he spoke. "Beware, Hellenes. I may retreat to the sands but your time will come. She will lead you to your victory when Ra is born in the west and dies in the east, and when the desert drowns in water."

_(") Riddles. Sphinxes and their riddles.(")_

"The crown will never again belong to your kind. The boy should have ended you when he had the chance. "

A cold chill settled between my shoulder blades. "You mean Carter?" Annabeth stabbed the sphinx in the throat, and he erupted in a whirlpool of sand. My hand burned and I opened it. In the center of my palm was a painting of an eye, lined in that thick eyeliner the Egyptians used. It light up a vivid electric blue and glowed. The hieroglyph peeled itself off of my hand, and hovered in the air above my palm. I noticed the camp became eerily quiet and I looked up. The campers were staring at my hand along with Annabeth and Chiron. No one spoke. It reminded me of my first game of capture the flag when I was claimed by a glowing trident. A chill swept through the air and the hieroglyph disappeared.

_Author's Note: Thanks for the new reviews and followers. When reviewing, please don't be disrespectful. I read and reply to each registered review. If you don't like the story, that's fine. Just don't be rude. Next Week is Sadie's POV ._


	7. Chapter 7: Run Like An Egyptian: Part 2

Sadie

_(")Honestly Carter, I understand. It was a humiliating experience you'd rather forget. I know so I'll narrate. First the big sphinx appears from nowhere and rather than saying something intelligent like "Don't eat me!" Carter says "Hi, Kitty." He can be so thick sometimes.(")_

The sphinx snarled and pounced a few feet in front of where Carter was running. Our initiates were scattered. Most hid by the doors in Zia's protective circle. The younger ones cowered nearby them. Carter glanced behind him at Walt and I beside the queen's body. "Get her out of here."

I blanched. _(") Are you kidding me?! Does he think I can't it myself? It's just a stupid big cat…Sorry Bast. I've fought worse. Apophis was an impossible fight but he didn't send me away then. Maybe he's trying to hog all the fun or... maybe he's trying to protect me from the monster… The nerve of him!(")_

Walt.. Anubis... Whatever you'd like to call him, stuck his hand into the Duat and opened a door of darkness. I was about to protest when he grabbed the unconscious queen and vanished with her through the door, sealing it closed.

_(")Hmmmm. Let's just ignore the previous outburst shall we?(")_

I summoned my staff and waved at the sphinx. Cats like me so I tried to channel Bast. I pictured her leopardcat suit, her poofy ponytail and that mischievous grin. The sphinx snapped at Carter with her claws. Okay. We're in a Sekhmet mood then. Fine. I took a deep breath and spoke a command. "Ha-Tep." Be at Peace. Hieroglyphs blazed to life above the creature. The sphinx swatted the hieroglyphs and they vanished. Not good. I tried again.

Summoning power from Isis, I called out my favorite spell. "Ha-Di!" Destroy. The hieroglyphs blazed to life again, and exploded in the sphinxes face with golden light. The giant cat hissed and coughed like she had a hairball. I racked my brain for ideas when she swatted me with her paw. I heard Carter yell my name as I went sailing through the air, and collided with a statue of the heretic king, Akhenaten .

A sharp crack came to my ears and I knew I'd broken my ankle. I looked up at the limestone Pharaoh. He looked weird. His entire body was long, curvy and feminine. He looked like a woman whose body had stretched out on some type of ancient torture device. Carter told me they were symptoms of Marfan's syndrome, a genetic disease that allows for an elongated body. One of the curses the Egyptians gods gave him after he banished their worship and destroyed their temples in his epic failure to worship one god. Anger boiled in me. This pharaoh was Tut's father, his war against the traditional gods of Egypt was the cause for the genetic curse that afflicted his descendants and nearly killed Walt. I wanted to spit on his statue.

Zia had left Cleo in charge of her circle and appeared next to me, trying to help me up. It was no use, my leg couldn't hold my weight and I fell back down. I forced myself to look at my leg. My ankle had swollen and the foot was pointing in the wrong direction. I tried moving it back to the forward position, but it would not budge.

I glanced at Carter. He had summoned his falcon warrior, and was now standing taller than the sphinx. The sphinx growled and swiped at him. The swing went right through the avatar but Carter cried out in pain. A gash opened on his right arm. I pulled myself to my feet, and threw my staff to get the sphinxes attention. Good news, it hit the monster upside the head. Bad news, I only made her angrier.

Zia jumped over me and yelled a command word. "Tas!" Bind. Pink ribbons shot from her arms, and wrapped themselves around the sphinx. Her four feet, her neck until she was wrapped up like a gift basket. She tried to claw and roar but the more she struggled, the tighter the bonds became. The Seven Ribbons of Hathor. Zia's last resort of a weapon. Last time, she had used the ribbons of Hathor to free a host from Serqet, the scorpion goddess. Serqet had steamed, and yielded until the magic had worn off then she reformed. The reforming part wasn't supposed to happen.

_(") In Egyptian speak, we call this "bad".(")_

Carter's avatar collapsed and he fell to the ground, clutching his arm. Zia summoned fire to burn the sphinxes face but the sphinx broke free from her bonds and snapped up Zia's staff, crushing it in her jaws. With her staff gone, the source of her circle's power was cut off. The circle that Cleo and the younger initiates were being protected with vanished in smoke. Zia looked momentarily unhinged. I've never seen Zia so look afraid before.

_(")She reminded me of Annabeth with her "I can do this, I've done it before" attitude. Part of why I liked her. Annabeth I mean. Zia is cool too but she's dating my brother so, ya know____, I can only compliment her brilliance to a certain degree. What she sees in Carter, I'll never understand.(")_

The sphinxes face changed. Her face became more rounded. The bulb of her nose hung lower and her lips became fuller. The arch of her eyebrows softened and she became beautiful... for something with fangs about to kill us.

"Her face. It's the queen's face." Carter mumbled. I frowned. Okay, was he just now noticing that? He looked woozy but that could've been from the whack I had just received from the statue. I shook my head, but no. Carter was bathed in blue light like he had been rolled in blue glitter and his face was beaded in sweat. A look of shock came over his face and he lurched forward.

"Carter!" I screamed as the blue light engulfed him. Zia ran to his side as I hobbled across the floor. The giant growling hairball had momentarily been forgotten. I grabbed my staff from in front of the sphinx and as I ran to Carter, I turned back and yelled "Tyet! " The symbol of Isis blazed in front of the sphinx, briefly keeping it at bay while I could see to my moron of a brother.

"What's happening?" I demanded.

"Some communication spell has been activated. " Zia confirmed.

"Percy." He mumbled. "Percy, not now."

"Who is Percy?!" Zia demanded shaking him from his stupor.

"Oh he didn't tell you either huh?" I grabbed onto Carter to try and ground him but it no use.

Carter's form flickered and shimmered. He grabbed my hand and I grabbed his but it was like trying to grab air. "Sadie, behind you!" He yelled and shimmered out of existence.

"Carter!" I screamed and tried to push through to the Duat and pull him free. Zia grabbed me from behind and pulled me back as I realized our new problem. My Tyet symbol was fading fast and the sphinx was no longer being contained by it. She roared again and jumped through it, landing inches in front of Zia and I.

"Aren't the sphinxes supposed to be protectors?" I asked.

Zia's eyes lit up. "Yes… They obey Ra."

Zia marched up to the sphinx in awe and did something unbelievable. She smiled. Which was rare for her but she smiled at the sphinx. Maybe she figured out the puzzle or maybe she was imagining her as a throw rug in the great hall like I was.

_(") Oooh. Lion King quote. "He'd make a very handsome throw rug. And just think whenever he gets dirty, you can take him out and beat him." …..Shelby and the ankle biters were watching it the other day, don't judge.(")_

Zia revealed her scarab necklace and the sphinx's eyes widened in alarm. The great cat bowed to Zia and shimmered out of sight like a mirage.

_(") If you're confused. Congrats. So were the rest of us. That's the thing about sphinxes. You can never tell whether they're going to help you or try to kill you.(")_

She turned to face me, her eyes burning as balls of orange fire. We all took a step back from her. The fire dimmed before her eyes mellowed out to their usual amber color. She sighed in relief as if the burning eyes had caused her pain. "Sadie, sphinxes are protectors. Symbols of Ra. They protected the pharaoh and his family, in life and death. We were kidnapping her in a way, taking her from Egypt itself, the guardians reacted to that..." Zia explained.

"But the sphinx just vanished, like it gave up." Jaz said.

Zia nodded. "You had to earn the queen. It was a test to see if we were worthy of the treasure she possessed."

" I hate tests. Get kicked around, scratched up and broke my ankle, all for some comatose queen from the past. She better be worth the trouble." I grumbled and sat down.

Zia smiled tiredly as our other initiates circled us.

"The fire trucks are coming." Talibah said.

"Super." I said as Jaz pulled back my pant leg to look at my ankle.

Zia nodded to out initiates and pointed at the statues surrounding us. "Make a portal to Brooklyn House, Ra sets in 3 minutes."

I handed my staff to our newest initiate Lilliana, who ran with it over to the nearest statue and began chanting.

I took a sigh of relief while Jaz tended to my leg.

_SNAP_

I looked up to see Lilliana hiding the now two pieces of my staff. I sighed. She's from Missouri so I guess I have to show her how first. I moved to get up and Jaz pressed me back down. "Sadie, look at your ankle." I looked down and gasped.

_Author's note: Yes, I like cliffhangers. Sorry. Thanks to all who left me reviews, I greatly value them. I always write back because I want you to know that I do indeed read them._

_Howtobook101, I am sorry but because you use a guest account, I am not able to PM you back a response for reviews but I can answer here. Thank you for your kind words. I was reading Percy Jackson's Greek Gods the whole time I was writing Chapter 6, as a way to channel Percy._

_Next week, it'll be back at Camp Half-Blood with Annabeth's POV._


	8. Chapter 8: Percy Summons Us A Lecture

Annabeth

_(") Percy is such a seaweed brain sometimes. Carter said that if you call his name, you activate the link, and to only use it once in a time of need. Percy blurts it out in the middle of combat. As amazing as he is, he does not have the best timing and he makes some dumb mistakes. (")_

* * *

First, the hieroglyph peeled off his hand then we heard this massive yelling from somewhere above us but when we looked, we saw nothing. Then a boy shimmered into existence, fell from the sky and landed at Percy's feet. He had just appeared out of nowhere like the air had created him. Maybe he had come from the.. What was it Sadie talked about, the Duat?

Percy just stood there staring at this kid on the ground. He looked about 15, dark skinned, mop of curly blackish brown hair and brown eyes. His right arm was bleeding pretty badly. I looked to the Apollo cabin standing in the woods.

"Medic!" I yelled at them and they scrambled into gear.

The kid looked around and then sighed at Percy. "Man, I told you not to lead me into an ambush when you called."

Percy looked flustered. "Sorry, man. I was in combat and.."

"So was I! My sister is hurt. Our …team, they're fighting a monster. I have to get back to them."

The Apollo cabin had made their way to him now and was treating his arm. "Carter, you can't leave just yet. You're injured and you need rest. I'm Annabeth, by the way."

He frowned. "You're the girl that Sadie met in the subway."

I nodded. "Yes, we fought together against Serapis and bought some time. She's a strong fighter. I'm sure she'll be fine."

He looked at me but said nothing as the Apollo kids finished bandaging his arm and backed away. Percy helped him up and he took a look around. The kid looked stunned. No doubt he had never seen Camp Half-Blood before but the way Carter had talked to Percy, we'd assumed that the Egyptians had their own camp too. Carter's expression was not reassuring on that matter. He looked at the cabins and seemed to be overwhelmed by our possible numbers.

Chiron seemed to detect his distress and tried for a reassuring smile. "Perhaps, it's best that we invite our young guest here inside to talk. We will have a camp meeting in the morning after breakfast for the cabin counselors. For the rest of you, return to your cabins. It's lights out in one hour. Carter, come with me please."

Percy and I looked at each other. Apparently, we were not invited to this private discussion even though we knew just as much about this as Carter. We walked off to our cabins for the night and waited till morning.

The cabin counselors gathered around the ping pong table for our annual "The World is about to end" meeting. Each counselor sat in the circle, according to the cabin number. Jason sat at the far left, followed by Percy and Clarisse. Carter stayed at the front next to Chiron and Rachel. He looked pretty nervous, meeting all the cabin leaders. Couldn't blame him. Jason and Percy were facing off in some staring contest, Clarisse was threatening Leo for setting her shirt on fire, and Piper was doing her best to charmspeak Leo out of danger. The Stoll brothers from Hermes, were pitting Katie from Demeter against Pollux from Dionysus in a heated argument over what plants provided the most value in crop prices. Mary Ellen from Hecate was changing the color of Nico's clothes from black to pink to green and yellow, all by just snapping her fingers. If Carter was nervous, it made sense. Only Clovis from Hypnos seemed to be at ease because he was asleep as usual.

Carter's gaze rested on Jason and he frowned like he knew him. Chiron cleared his throat. "Let's come to order then, shall we? Leo, no one needs a flaming shirt. Clarisse, Leo is not a punching bag. Jason, Percy, you both blinked and are disqualified. Katie, Pollux, both corn and grapes are greatly valued and equal in production and profit. Mary Ellen, please return Nico's clothing to their original color please. Thank you. Now, we have much to discuss so I will let Carter tell his story before we examine the prophecy."

Carter stood and took a deep breath." I'm not quite sure where to begin. Um, I'm Carter Kane. I'm 15 and from Los Angeles but I live in Brooklyn. My dad was an Egyptologist, now he's kind of a god. My mom was an anthropologist, and a chemistry professor but she's dead now. My sister is Sadie, she's 13. Not really sure what else to say.

In ancient times, Egypt, or Kemet as we called it, was divided into sections called Nomes, not to be confused by the garden statues. As the empire grew, so did the number of Nomes. Egypt did not die out when the Persians, Greeks and Romans conquered it. We retained our culture and our gods. Egypt has a total of 365 Nomes which are completely global now. Our gods and monsters are just as real as I am and there are still very much around. "

He sighed. "Our adventures started about a year and a half ago. After our mom died, my sister and I were separated by a custody fight. She went to live in London and I traveled to Egypt with my dad. We saw each other twice a year and that's when the trouble started. For Christmas Eve, we met in London and went to the museum for the duration of the visit. This is hard to explain but in the last of the New Kingdom, the Egyptians reached the high point of power and decided they no longer needed their gods so they banished them."

I raised my hand. "How do you banish a god?"

"With magic. All magic in the world comes from Egypt. We created it, or well, Isis created it. One of our myths mention how magic passed to Greece and the world but the point it is, magic is nearly unlimited power. Magicians like me use magic to banish monsters into the Duat. Long story short, the Duat is like an invisible ocean of magic mixed with the Labyrinth . It starts in this world and goes to the core of the earth itself. Each layer has a name and holds a section of stuff. Like the land of demons, it's like our version of Tartarus. When you kill a monster, it goes to a section of the Duat. The Duat also holds things like objects and gods. It can also be used a magical gateway. When you dream and you are someplace else like another city or something, you really are there. Your soul slipped into the Duat and appeared in that place. The Egyptians used magic and banished the gods to the Duat, to live in statues, buildings, objects. Anything Egyptian. When Egypt was conquered and our stuff was taken away, a lot of places and people ended up with possessed objects. The minor gods could only be released by a major god and the major gods could only be released by the main 5; Osiris, Set, Isis, Horus and Nephthys. "

He noticed some people dozing off and quickly got to the point. "My mom was a diviner, she could see the future and she saw that the Egyptian personification of evil was going to rise and destroy the world. Isis gave her advice and told her to start releasing gods from their prisons to help for the war. She did release Bast and died. Dad released the main 5 and invited Osiris to live in his body. In our mythology, we don't have demigods. Our gods are forbidden from having relationships with mortals. They don't have human children but they have human hosts. So my dad is basically Osiris. Myself, Sadie and most of our initiates are hosts as well.

Osiris was kidnapped by Set, who tried to take over the world. Set was under the influence of the personification of evil and chaos. We freed Osiris and he returned to the underworld, Set joined our team and helped us find Ra, who was the only one capable of defeating the chaos snake. So, yeah. We spend our time resurrecting gods, freeing gods, fighting gods and killing monsters. All to save the world that is usually completely oblivious to the constant threat of destruction. It sounds completely crazy but it's our life and I really need to get back to it. We have a sphinx problem."

"So do we. Or we did when I summoned you." Percy said.

"They're connected. Both camps were fighting a sphinx at the same time. Setne did this. The sphinx mentioned that the crown would never again belong to the Greeks, and that she will lead you to your victory when Ra is born in the West, dies in the East and when the desert drowns in water." I answered.

Carter shrugged. "Never then. Ra is the sun and he never rises in the West. The desert is of course dry, not wet."

"But who is the she?"

Carter chewed his lip. "I'm not sure."

"What about the sleeping queen from the prophecy?" Percy interjected. "The prophecy mentions Egypt and a evil prince's ambition, which I am guessing to be Setne and his desire to become a god. It also mentions a sleeping queen that must be woken, and that finding a crown will bring the god down."

_(")Carter wouldn't meet our eyes. He had to be hiding something from us. Maybe the girl was Sadie and he was trying to protect his sister from the prophecy's meaning. Maybe he didn't trust us just yet. I looked at Percy and could tell he had come to the same conclusion. We could read each other perfectly now since our time together__over the years at camp half-blood but especially after our trip to Tartarus. He knew that Carter was hiding something too.(")_

Piper cleared her throat. "You know, we're all in this together. We've been on quests and fought in wars too. We've saved the world a time or two, and we totally understand this lifestyle. Mortals don't understand, and the monsters just keep reforming so it feels very hopeless at times . Whatever is happening with this prince and his plan to wage war, it involves us both and we need to work together to stop him. If you have any information that can help us, you need to tell us right now."

_(") Usually Piper's charmspeak works on the most horrid situations. Turning foes into friends and stopping war in its tracks. Charmspeak does have its limit though.(")_

Carter stiffened and pulled away from her as if he sensed a threat. His eyes would not leave the tattoos on Jason's forearms. Of course. Jason was Roman, Carter was Egyptian. In the year 384 A.D. The Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius ratified a decree abolishing the pagan rites in the temples of Egypt. Persecution and destruction silenced the 3, 500 years of civilization. The Romans destroyed what the Egyptians valued. Their religion was banned, the culture absorbed, people enslaved, and their treasures had been stolen. Egypt had been taken apart like a Lego set and sold for spare parts. Carter would not tell us about the queen with Jason here.

I locked eyes with Chiron and did my best to explain to him the situation. Fortunately he understood it and cleared his throat. "Perhaps it's time we break for lunch, and let Carter contact his sister to help ease some of his anxiety." Carter got up and followed Chiron into another room of the big house.

The mood of the room quickly calmed as everyone exited for lunch. Percy and I stayed behind in the big house to wait, hoping he would still trust us as friends. Chiron came back with Carter a few moments later and both looked relieved. "Annabeth, Percy, go with Carter to Brooklyn House. Sadie is unable to join us here and the queen..." He glanced at Carter. "She belongs with her own people when she wakes."

"What of the meeting?" I asked.

"They've learned what is most important. Sometimes knowledge is not always power. Sometimes, it is a great burden."

Percy frowned. "But we'll miss lunch."

Carter smirked for the first time since he'd arrived. "We have food at our place. It's nearly time for lunch there too."

"Well then. Lead on, Moses." Percy quipped as we walked out of camp.

"He wasn't an Egyptian."

"Whatever."

_(")Boys.(")_

* * *

_Author's Note: Not much of a cliffy this time. Thank You for your reviews. Next week is Carter's POV._

_Howtobook101: Thanks. I know, right? Percy would totally summon someone by mistake in combat. Such a seaweed brain. This is why we love him._


	9. Chapter 9: No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Carter

* * *

Percy lead us past the camp's borders to the farm road where a white van was waiting. "Delphi Strawberry Service?" I asked.

"Cover name." Percy supplied as we met the van and its driver

"This is Argus, our head of security. He will be driving us to your camp. Argus, this is Carter Kane. He is an Egyptian Demigod." Annabeth said.

"Godling. Egyptian Demigods don't exist." I spoke up stupidly. _(") Sorry, it bugs me when people get facts wrong. I also tend to ramble when I met people that are covered in eyeballs.(")_

Horus kept going on and on with his warnings. _ "Don't trust them. Tell them nothing. Guard our secrets."_

What secrets haven't they already uncovered? Setne forced our hand about the existence of our gods. They already knew about the queen and I had just spilled my guts about Sadie and my adventures. Plus, we were on our way to Brooklyn house. Gods make no sense sometimes.

I kept glancing at my new companions trailing behind me and we climbed into the van. "Carter, you will have to give Argus some directions to your camp. The Mist will likely obscure the view of your camp from the road so he'll need precise directions." Annabeth said.

I shook my head. " Take us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art please."

Percy frowned. "Your camp is in Brooklyn. Why are we going to the Upper East side of Manhattan?"

"You have to fly into Brooklyn house, you can't drive there. "

"So we should have used the Pegasi instead?" Percy asked.

"No, we have portals to Brooklyn house. Nearest one is in the Met."

He nodded and took Annabeth's hand.

Argus dropped us off at the museum and winked goodbye.

We walked past the ticket office and made our way inside. Thankfully, no one paid us much mind and we made our way to the Egyptian gallery. I admit, we were trying to be in a hurry but I kept stopping every few feet to look at the art. Thousands of years worth of history and art decorated the walls. Every so often Annabeth and Percy looked around.

"Beautiful." Annabeth murmured.

I smirked. "And I thought the Greeks were the artists of the ancient world."

She looked at me.

_(")Awkward.(")_

I lead them down to Gallery room 123. One of my personal favorites. The entire room was dedicated to Ramesses The Great. Mom's great times a million grandfather. He was one of dad's favorite pharaohs too. Even the Christians knew his name from the story of Moses and the Exodus. Unfortunately, he was well known by both friend and foe.

Percy eyed a statue of the pharaoh. "Nice hat."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a double crown. A Pschent. The crown of united Egypt. The red part is a Deshret, crown of lower Egypt. The white part is a Hedjet, crown of Upper Egypt."

Annabeth nodded. "Narmer united the two parts of Egypt. Commemorated in the Narmer Palette. "

Percy looked between us. "Riiight. So, why do we care about some dead pharaoh?"

I scowled. "I'm blood related to Narmer. He matters to me. The Pschent is important. Serapis mentioned a crown. What other crown would he care about?"

Annabeth smirked at Percy.

"Fine." Percy relented. "Why are we in this room?"

I pointed to the obelisk near the pharaoh's statue. "My dad is a descendant of Narmer, my mom is a descendant of Ramesses The Great here. We can use any object from Ancient Egypt to make a portal but Setne is very good at chaos. He could mess with portals and we would end up as bits of sand in the Duat. This is a statue of a friendly pharaoh I guess you'd say. He hosted the god Ra. Using his stuff to make a portal should help prevent anything bad from happening."

"So, good Juju?" Percy asked.

Annabeth nudged him. "So how do we open the portal?"

I put my hands on the obelisk and closed my eyes to concentrate. "They can be opened during auspicious times like high noon in a 3 minutes. Sadie is much better at this than me."

_(") Yeah, yeah, sis. Don't gloat_.(")

I focused in on my memories of the swirling sands.

_(") Horus?(")_

"_Hello, Carter."_

_(") Need some help with a portal.(")_

"_And you called me?"_

_(") Dude, I'm not good at this.(")_

"_And yet, you are a teacher, Carter."_

_(") Zia teaches the section on portals.(")_

"_Use your powers and your mind, Carter. A General does not face battle imagining his defeat. He sees victory in his mind's eye and the victory comes to life."_

I snorted. (") Thank you, Caesar.(")

"Don't call me by that stulte's name. The fatue destroyed our empire. He and that pathetic excuse for a queen."

_(") Cleopatra?(")_

The voice faded and my senses tingled, telling me that it was high noon. I concentrated and tried to imagine the portal that I wanted to open. Immediately, the obelisk spewed swirling sands and darkened.

Percy made a sound like someone pulling a cat's tail and took a step back. "What the creeping crud is that?"

"That is our portal, Percy."

Annabeth frowned. "Did you just pull one up?"

I shook my head. "Horus made the connection for me in the Duat. Kind of like an ancient phone line. He was acting as the operator and switching the phone lines around." I gestured to the swirling sands. "I'll go first." And I jumped in.

My sight went black and then opened up in the middle of the great room. I got up quickly and waited for Annabeth and Percy to arrive... Within moments, Percy and Annabeth tumbled out of the base of the statue behind me. They took a moment **t**o get their bearings and looked around.

Annabeth gasped and Percy looked around impressed. "Wow."

I smirked. "Yeah, Sadie and I felt the same way when we first arrived. Took some getting used to."

"Yeah, you should have seen him. His jaw was on the floor. He couldn't form words to talk so he just kept making squeaky sounds like a mouse being stepped on. It was really cute." A voice echoed.

"Sadie." I called.

"And after that, Khufu showed us to our rooms, and the poor boy fell flat on his face on the way down the hall. It was so funny."

"Sadie!"

Soft giggling came from the middle couch and I strode over, took a pillow from the nearest couch and whacked her gently over her head.

"Hey!" She yelled.

I pulled her from the couch and hugged her tightly. "I was worried about you."

"Can't breathe." She mumbled.

"Sorry."

I noticed the room was quiet and looked up. Percy was holding back a smirk and Annabeth just smiled.

"Um, right." I said. " Think I should get the… others."

I looked around and saw various people. Walt was hanging by the door to the kitchen. Alyssa, Cleo, Jullian, Jaz and our older initiates were hovering on the stairs. The younger kids like Shelby were hiding behind the statues.

"You can come out, guys. I don't think they'll bite."

Shelby peaked out from behind the statue of Thoth and grinned, showing off her missing front teeth. "Hi."

Annabeth smiled. "Hi, Cutie."

A thumping sound proceeded down the steps and Sadie's cat Muffin padded over to Annabeth and Percy. Muffin ran over and began sniffing their feet.

I shrugged. "Safety inspection."

Annabeth bent down and petted Muffin who in return brushed against her leg, purring contently. "Pretty cat. Egyptian?"

"Bronze Egyptian Mau. She's Sadie's." I answered.

"She's pretty." Annabeth said.

"Mew?" Muffin responded and head-butted Annabeth's leg.

Percy laughed. "Someone likes you, Annabeth."

"I like cats." She said.

Sadie and I looked at each other. "That's good." We said simultaneously.

Percy frowned confused and Annabeth explained. "The Egyptians had a cat goddess. Bastet I believe."

Muffin yawned. "You're a clever one, dear. Bastet was from the old kingdom. Bast is much more easier to say."

They froze and I stifled a laugh.

Annabeth looked down at Muffin. "Kitty?"

Percy blinked. "The cat talked."

_(") Oh, he's brilliant.(")_

Muffin inclined her head and winked. "Hello, dear."

Muffin looked back at me and nodded. "Safety inspection finished."

She then backed away and changed into human form. A tall, lithe woman wearing a leopard cat suit. She smirked at the Greeks and wandered off into the kitchen.

Walt spoke up. "So, uh, lunch is ready."

We sat around the dining table on the balcony and stared in amazement. Percy was working on third chicken wing and showed no signs of slowing down. He had already inhaled a large pizza, an apple pie and was single handily destroying the bucket of KFC. Where he put it all, I don't know. Maybe his stomach was partly in the Duat, ever expanding to compensate. Shelby was giggling about it and Felix was back to making mashed potato penguins again and making them come to life in order to secure some cherry pie before he had finished his snow peas.

"Felix, the stealth penguins are not working, finish your dinner first then we'll see about dessert." Walt explained.

"Awww, no far." Felix moaned.

Annabeth concentrated. "So let me see if I have this all straight. Alyssa is connected to Geb, the Egyptian personification of the earth. Geb is a he and he is friendly towards gods and mortals. Felix draws power from some ice god and likes magic penguins. Jaz is a healer and is connected to Sekhmet, the goddess of famine. Cleo is the librarian and is connected to Thoth, god of knowledge. Sean has not decided on a path yet, neither has Shelby, Liliana, Talibah or Adom. Walt is hosting Anubis, god of funerals. Um, Julian follows Horus, Carter is hosting Horus, god of the sky. Sadie is hosting Isis, goddess of magic and Zia is hosting Ra's aspect of rebirth." She took a breath. "Think I've got it all figured out."

"And the two of you are what exactly?" Cleo asked.

Percy put down the chicken wing. _ (")About time, am I right?(")_

"We are demigods. One parent is mortal and one isn't. Uh, my mom works in a candy story and my dad is Poseidon, god of the sea. "

Annabeth took his hand. "My dad is a history professor and my mom is Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. Demigods are mortal but we have powers related to our parents. Like, I'm good at planning things and fighting. Percy can breathe underwater and control water."

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I thought back to our fight against the petsuchos. Percy walked through the swamp with ease whereas I fell. He summoned the wave that hit me, and he created that monster of a hurricane. He was no water elementist at all. He wasn't hosting a god. He was born that way.

There was a moment of silence before Felix piped. "Cool!"

"So, uh, I think we should discuss what to do with Setne and Serapis seeing as how they involve both of our mythologies." I said.

They both nodded.

"The**,** uh**,** prophecy that our oracle gave us mentioned Egypt and Setne's plan to become a god. It also mentioned waking the queen and finding the crown.. Do you know where they are?"

I looked at Walt and Sadie, searching their faces for some kind of answer. Sadie always said she didn't want to be the leader but at the same time, I didn't want to make every decision for Brooklyn house on my own. Walt was someone I could count on to help with the hard decisions. He looked at me and nodded before he said. "The queen is upstairs in our infirmary. We are not sure how to wake her yet. The crown... We have not seen it since Alexander the Great invaded Egypt. He stole the crown and passed it on to his general at the time of his death. It passed through his bloodline until Cleopatra the seventh gave everything over to the Romans. It has not been seen since."

"So the Romans have it." Percy suggested.

"We assume so but we can't prove it. Though they stole everything else, why not that?" Liliana asked.

Annabeth shrugged. "They took the Athena Parthenos and burned the Library of Alexandria. It would make sense. Maybe the queen knows where it is. She's old enough to live through that time period, maybe she has the answers. I mean, she's been sleeping but even demigods have visions when we dream."

I glanced at the New York skyline.

_(")Speaking of dreams, that night I had one of the worst since Dad disappeared and Set tried to take over._

_I felt myself rise out of my body and float through the ceiling and into the Duat. Normally, the enchanted headrest keeps our Ba attached to the body but sometimes when it felt urgent, I allowed myself to flow with the current. After doing it a few times before, it wasn't scary anymore. I felt myself being pulled around in the Duat and spit out again. I looked around and tried to process what I was seeing. Black sky, dotted with stars. The ground covered with sand. A hot _gust of_ wind hit my face and ruffled the feathers on my wings. I was in Egypt. The Trajan's Kiosk lit up in the background and I knew I was at the island of Philae. Something else I noticed. My body burned with power and I realized I was again, a guest in the body of Horus._

_(") Hello, Horus.(")_

"_Carter."_

_(") What am I doing here?(")_

"_Setne seeks the tomb of my father for the spell to become living. The book of Thoth can give him the spell to become a god, but the dead may not cast that spell. It has to be done by the living. He plans to use you to find the tomb."_

_(") But I don't know where the tomb of Osiris is! No one does, it is a legend! It's just some... myth.(") _The realization hit in the face like a ton of bricks.

"_There is truth in legend, Carter. Only mother knows its true location. It is her most treasured secret. She will never lead you to the tomb if you work alongside the foreigners. The Greeks however, can lead you to the crown. You will not have the time needed to stop Setne and Serapis. Choose wisely."_

* * *

_Author's Note: Oh come on, I had to throw some type of monkey wrench in there somewhere. It's not fun if it isn't challenging. Next week is Percy's POV. More Sass and snarky-ness._

_To the new followers, welcome. Thanks you all who reviewed chapter 8.  
_

_Um, If at any time, you want to see something in a later chapter, pm me or leave the comment as a review. So far, I've been able to add in every request._

_So the latin translations from earlier are. : Stulte= idiot. Fatue=fool._

_Howtobook101: Thanks. He's a history dork and so am I so, It's pretty easy to geek out._

_Lastly, I don't know if you guys know but since most readers seem to be PJ fans, thought you should know that Rick has an app out called Demigods of Olympus for iphone/ipad. Bunch of cool short stories where you get to be the demigod and you control the story through various choices you make. I'm addicted to it._


	10. Chapter 10: Rise Of The Zombie Queen

Percy

* * *

After lunch, we told the Egyptians the prophecy and they seemed to accept it pretty well, all things considered. They definitely have had some experiences before. Funny thing was, our worlds seem to be mixed even before the evil prince threw us together. The god Set acted a great deal like Ares. Setne's plants resembled that of dirt face. We were facing similar threats in another mythologies world.

Carter had taken us to their Great Library for some non-child friendly discussion and mythological speak.

_(") Oh joy.(")_

Frankly, I zoned out. I mean come on, one set of gods and myths is enough to make my head explode. Adding in another mythology with its own set of gods and stories was just too much to take. I looked over at Annabeth, who was studying Carter with interest, and occasionally jumping in with what Chiron had taught her over the last few weeks.

I glanced at Sadie who was twirling her chair, rolling her eyes at the discussion. At least one person here acted as thrilled as I was towards the history and myth lecture. Walt stood behind her and kept spinning her chair while keeping his attention focused on the problem at hand. Zia preferred pacing back and forth.

"Ok, so the prophecy takes place in Egypt. Setne's desire for power is the warning. We're supposed to wake the queen but." Carter started.

"But the queen won't wake. I gave her a healing potion when I brought her back , and Jaz has been on top of healing her since we've been here. She isn't even twitching. I'm not sure what else to do." Walt interjected.

"I can ask Isis about a healing spell. Maybe she'll answer me." Sadie answered. "If a potion won't help then a spell is our best bet."

"There is another problem though. The crown is missing, we need that to take down Serapis and of course , it's been stolen by the Romans. There's an endless possibility to where they have taken it, and you can bet that they have hidden it." Carter answered.

Annabeth nodded. "The Romans took a number of things from the places they conquered. They took the Athena Parthenos as a way of breaking the Greek's spirit. They sent it to Rome and buried it far beneath the earth. Every few hundred years, Athena sent her children around the world to retrieve the statue until finally it was freed and returned home. If the Romans have the crown then we'll simply have to ask for it back."

Carter frowned. "Doubt if they hid it in plain sight before they vanished from the earth."

Annabeth and I looked at each other for a moment. "The,uh, Romans are still very much around. Their Camp is in California and we're friends with a few of them ." I said.

"Friends with Romans? How is that possible? After everything they've done to both our empires?" Carter asked astonished.

"Yeah, they helped us with one of our wars. Our enemy could only be defeated through a combination of Greek and Roman godlings working together. They gave back the Athena Parthenos to help unite our camps and our gods. Most of the Romans seem to be pretty decent people in the modern world. A few are untrustworthy but some have become good friends with us." Annabeth supplied.

"Think they're friendly enough to return our stolen property?" Carter sighed.

"Worth an Iris message, I suppose."

"Who is Iris?" Sadie asked.

"Greek Goddess of Rainbows. She sometimes carries messages between Gods and demigods for payment. "

"Uh huh." Sadie answered unimpressed.

I looked at Annabeth and smirked. "What is it? You have your "I'm planning something " look."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't have a "I'm planning something look" ."

"Sure you do. You knit your eyebrows together and your face scrunches up."

"Percy!" She sighed. "Maybe Percy and I should try to contact the Romans about negotiating your crown, and you guys contact your gods about waking sleeping beauty."

Annabeth and I walked back onto the balcony, avoiding the crocodile pool that I had been eyeing earlier. She pulled Walt's glass of water and put it in direct sunlight, allowing the light to flow through it, transforming it into a prism. I smiled at her. Annabeth always came prepared. She took out a gold drachma and tossed it into the rainbow.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show us Reyna at Camp Jupiter."

Reyna's image shimmered into existence. She was sitting on her praetor throne beside Frank. Both were listening to Dakota giving a report, and they seemed to be quite bored or annoyed. Reyna's face was hard to judge though.

_(")Sorry, Reyna!(")_

Reyna looked about ready to toss him to her dogs before she noticed us. Her eyes widened, and she had a look of shock on her face which she quickly masked. "Annabeth." Her eyes tightened. "Percy."

"Hello, Reyna. We need a few moments to discuss something very important." Annabeth explained.

Reyna waved off Dakota and waited until he left the principia before she began.

"What do I owe the pleasure?"

Annabeth and I exchanged looks.

"Reyna, the Athena Parthenos was stolen by the Romans when they conquered Greece. They of course hid it, and kept the secret limited only to the Praetors which they passed down through the years."

"Get to the point, please."

"Is it possible that during the Greco-Roman period, the Romans did something very similar with Egypt?"

Frank frowned confused and looked over to Reyna.

She had an excellent poker face.

"What is this in regards to?"

I took over. "Reyna, Annabeth and I found some Egyptian godlings not long after the war against the giants. One of their dead has been trying to combine Greek and Egyptian magic. He's managed to resurrect one of the Egyptian gods that the Greeks had claimed in a way. The god is trying to destroy the Greek and Egyptian gods to rule alone."

She studied her dogs to detect a hint of deception but since they had not made a move to lie, she turned her attention back to us. "What does this have to do with Rome's stolen treasures?"

Annabeth locked her eyes with her. "The god Serapis can be defeated by the crown of Egypt. When the line of the pharaohs ended the crown passed to the Greek king, Ptolemy. Cleopatra the seventh was the last keeper of the crown before Rome…"

"And now you believe that Rome is in the possession of the crown?" Reyna asked.

"Rome invaded Egypt and annexed it for the purpose of funding their empire. Their legions took away thousands of Egyptian treasures. Why not take away the symbol of Egypt's rightful rulers? According to the Egyptian godlings, they merge with a god when they are crowned pharaoh. If Rome took the crown than not only did they show symbolic control of Egypt but they would prevent the Egyptians from attaining a substantial power to threaten the Romans with."

Reyna's temper flared. "You are accusing us?

_(") Not good!(")_

"No!" Annabeth shouted. "No, not accusing, it's just that the praetors have these old myths and legends being passed down. Since they did know about the statue and they were the ones that hid our sacred symbol I thought…."

Reyna held her hand up to silence Annabeth. "These are matters to be discussed in person. " Her expression turned sour. "I will be at Camp Half-Blood by morning." She slashed her hand through the image and disconnected the call.

I took a deep breath and looked at Annabeth. Looks like we were spending the night.

We made our way to the infirmary to meet the zombie queen. She looked alive enough. Frankly, Annabeth was much more interested in her than me. She seemed to react with fascination, as if the zombie queen was some beautiful building or an interesting book. I was partially surprised she didn't put on a set of gloves and test the waters as an anthropologist. A piece of living history just lying there to be inspected. Carter and Annabeth shared the same intense look of amazement, letting their inner history buff take over.

_(") I'm sorry, Wise-girl, but it is a cute look. Your eyes light up and you purse your lips together... Sorry, guys. (") _

Walt waited patiently until the history buffs had backed away from the body then; he placed his hands on the woman's temples and chanted in English.

"Hail, Osiris, son of Nut,

Whose awe Atum set in the heart of human beings, Gods, spirits and the dead.

King of the Gods, Great Power of Heaven,

Ruler of the living, King of those beyond. "

Then he did something even weirder. He began chanting in another language.

"Moster Aset, hör oss. befria henne från odödliga sömn. låt henne vakna och delta på vår strävan. vi behöver hennes hjälp i vårt sökande efter kronan."

The zombie queen's body light up gold, and the bed she was laid on shook violently. I looked up at Walt and he smiled at me. Then his face changed . His skin lightened to the shade of Carter's. The eyes changed from black to a warm brown and his short cropped hair became a short wave of messy black hair.

He looked like someone I knew and that smile... I blinked. He reminded me of Nico but where Nico was cold and unapproachable, this guy was warm and friendly. It was an odd moment. It was like I was seeing two sides of the kid. One that I knew and the potential one that he could be if he'd only open up.

_(")Woah, that was deep.(")_

I tried to remember the guy's name. Waldo? Wolfred? No, no. It's Walt. Walt's ears seem to grow taller like a dog's. I looked at Annabeth and the others in the room to see if they were noticing the strange metamorphisis that I was seeing. Sadly no, everyone else watched the now golden zombie queen, as if she was some interesting movie. I thought of something clever to say.

"Why do you look like a dog?" I blurted out.

Walt dropped the smile and glared at me. Now he looked just like Nico, only tanner.

"I am NOT a dog!" He growled. The room went silent.

Annabeth glared at me and then looked at Walt. "Excuse him, he didn't mean that you look like a dog. It's just that some of your features are canine. I'm assuming that it's due to you hosting. You channel the god and his power and for a short time, you fully become him. Am I right?"

Walt's demeanor changed again. The scowl vanished and the growling stopped. Slowly, the new Nico like face shimmered beneath the Walt's original face. He looked back at the queen, the confrontation forgotten.

_(")Crisis adverted.(")_

"Maybe we should check back in the morning?" Sadie spoke up. We glanced at the setting sun through the windows. Probably not such a bad idea to start fresh in the morning. Carter nodded like it was a great idea to him as well. Then he whistled like he was calling a dog, and I resisted the need to look at Walt to see if he had partially turned back into the Wolfman. A shriek answered him and we looked up to see this huge monkey in a t**-**shirt. Every time I think I've seen it all, I'm proven wrong. Again.

"This is Khufu." Carter explained. "He helps out around the House, he can show you to your rooms for the night."

"You have a monkey butler?" I asked. Khufu chucked a vase at my head and I ducked to avoid it. "He's a Baboon and a lil sensitive about it." Carter quipped.

"I noticed."

Anyway, the monkey, sorry , baboon led us up the stairs to the second floor. Annabeth and I got adjoining rooms to each other, which was cool but our rooms… Our rooms reminded me of our stay at the Lotus Casino and Hotel. King size bed, plush pillows, balcony, private bathroom. The works. Even the nightstand doubled as a mini-fridge filled with candy from Sweet on America where my mom used to work. The candy was even blue, my favorite color. Annabeth tapped me on the shoulder and kissed me goodnight. "Remember, don't eat the flowers."

I wish as could say that I slept as well as I should have in my palace room. Truth be told, Carter woke us all up at sunrise, screaming excitedly. He ushered us to the infirmary and then he made us wait. I was about to ask the monkey for a cup of coffee, when Carter ran into the room and asked us to follow him to where the queen was laying. Wiping my mouth of any trace of drool, I shuffled along and waited for the show. At exactly sunrise, the entire room light up with a warm, orange glow.

_(") Forget the coffee, I'm up.(")_

"Provide sunglasses next time please."

The girl named Zia glanced at me and smirked. "The Egyptians believe in the power of the sunrise. They believe that each new morning begins not just a new day, but a new world. It also has healing powers." She nodded at the zombie queen.

"So, the sunrises and she wakes up?" I asked.

"Not exactly. " Zia took her necklace off and placed it at the queen's throat. The golden bug became as bright as the sun. My face felt uncomfortably warm like it was melting off then light faded away and I heard a gasp. I thought it was Annabeth until I looked down into a pair of big brown eyes. They were a warm chocolate brown with flakes of gold. They reminded me of my friend Hazel.

Walt pressed a hand against her shoulder as if to stop her from sitting up too quickly. Annabeth and I looked at each other before glancing out in the direction of Long Island Sound.

"We should go. Reyna will be waiting and I have a feeling this will be an interesting meeting. Hopefully nothing gets blown up this time around. "

* * *

_Author's Note: First off, let me apologize for the tardiness of the update. Though it is technically still Friday in some parts of the U.S .I have been dealing with some personal issues yesterday and my beta tester has not been feeling so well lately. I again apologize._

_Welcome to any new readers._

_Guest: Thank You very much for your review._

_Howtobook101: LOL!I know Percy can be a pig sometimes. Lots of other demigods laugh at him for it and so do I. Poor Perce, he can't help that he eats like a goat. Though Grover might be offended at that. I'm sure if I chased after monsters and did what he does that I would stuff my face for your review._

_Alrighty, guys. Next Week should be another update back on the Friday schedule. Fingers crossed. Have not decided yet on whose POV the next chapter is in. Thinking of switching up the rotation to even it all out. Egyptian/Greek but also Boys/Girls and the queen now unbalances things._

_Also, feel free to add in idea or suggestions. A couple of people have already done that in reviews and so far I have added in the requester character(s) or scene. Can't promise that I can add anything in but of course, it never hurts to ask._

_As usual, favorites/ follows are appreciated and we all know that I love reviews. It truly is the best part of my weekend to wake up and find some notifications of the new reviews. Again, I am truly sorry for the lateness of this update. _ _Thank You for your understanding._


	11. Chapter 11: We Face Tough Choices

Sadie

* * *

_(") Where were we? Oh right. Crazy sphinx tried to kill us then the Greeks kidnap Carter..Not that I mind. Shame they didn't keep him longer really…. Though I wish they could have waited a tad later. After the fight was won perhaps. He left us hanging out with a giant cat that was trying to maul us. After that, we get back to Brooklyn House to sit, and watch over sleeping beauty while our initiates used scrying bowls to find Carter. In the meantime, Walt bandaged my ankle in mummy linen. New fashion trend.(")_

Anywho, Carter came back with unexpected guests for us to entertain. I swear to Ra, we should burn the outside dining table. Every time we have a sit down meal outside, we always pair it with the "The world is ending speech" and I'm a trifle tired of that.

Before Carter left with the Greeks, he told me about his dream with Horus.

We paced around his room. "Ok, so Setne needs to be alive to make himself immortal. To be alive, he needs the tomb of Osiris which he is hoping you will lead him to. You need to find the tomb to stop him but only Isis knows the location, and she won't help if we work with the others. The other issue is that according to Horus, the Greeks can lead us to the crown to stop Serapis, but we don't have enough time to stop Setne and Serapis. "

"We have to choose, Carter."

"But how? We have to do both."

"Split up?"

"Bad idea, remember last time?"

I shivered. "Evil roman mummies."

"Yeah. Bad idea."

"Then what? I asked.

"Dunno."

"How helpful." 

To make matters more annoying, Carter decided to join the guests with their rendezvous with the Romans. Therefore, he left Walt and I in charge of the ankle biters, and her majesty, the stiff. More annoyingly, she was awake now and helpless. I guess I was hoping the spell that Isis whispered to Walt would wake her and also revive her. Unfortunately, she woke much like Ra did. Ra was senile but mobile, the girl couldn't life her head from her pillow.

Walt kept a constant eye on her like he was afraid she'd take off, a joke considering how weak she was. On our way back to Brooklyn House, Zia mentioned something about preparedness for when she woke up. Honestly I didn't think she'd wake. I know we've faced the impossible before and the Egyptians created Cinderella so why not Sleeping Beauty? Still, tad rather irresponsible to bring home a pet without first providing the essentials?

_(") Wow. I sound like Carter, the epic dork.(")_

I met Zia downstairs in the Great Room. 

"Perhaps we should move her back to Egypt." Zia mused.

"Why?"

"Safer there in case something happens."

"In case someone happens." I corrected.

"Yes.

"She's not well enough to be moved."

"We can't wait long. Setne won't wait." 

I looked at the spray of kids in the room. Julian helped the younger kids with their homework while our newer initiates Liliana and Talibah were practice fighting with wands. Neither of which had decided on a path yet. Liliana seemed to be a natural at sky magic, turning into an blue form covered by an array of stars and constellations. She could vanish and appear at will. Talibah was a descendant of Hatshepsut, and was considering following the pharaoh's example and choosing the path of Ma'at. Whatever spell Liliana cast, Talibah could simply absorb the spell.

Zia shouldered a pack she had summoned from the Duat and looked at me. "I need to inform Amos of what has happened here and about the Greeks. Maybe he can advise us with our choice. At the least I've got some shopping to do at the market."

"You need to go to Egypt to shop? We have 5th Avenue here."

"Food market. People in Ancient Egypt didn't eat double cheeseburgers."

"Sucks for them." I noted.

"Agreed but our new house-guest can't eat modern food so we'll have to collect some things that the ancient Egyptians ate. Lucky for us, most modern Egyptians eat the same things that their ancestors did. "

"Guess they don't get out and try new things. Haven't they heard of living a little?"

"Perhaps not. I should go though. I'll be back in a few hours."

I nodded. I hated when people left me in charge. I never wanted to be the leader, still don't. Carter fits that role. He's suited for it, the big dope. I made my way to our practice room to work off the mountain of frustration I felt building. 

"Heqat." I spoke and my staff speared into my hand. Walt had assembled a new supply of shabti for practice fighting. Thankfully or not, the new shabtis could fight and fight well, but they went down too easily for me. The first one rushed me. Obviously not the smartest piece of play doh in the factory. "Ha-Wi!" I yelled , and the hieroglyph for strike blazed before me. Mr. Play doh number one lost his head. The next two shabtis attacked me. " Tas!" I threw my piece of twine at them and it grew and wrapped them up together. One strike with my staff and they blew to dust. The last shabti stood on the other side of the room waited for me. Obviously, he was the smartest Mr. play doh around. I waited for him to make a move but he just stood there. I got tired of waiting and blew him apart with my favorite spell. "Ha-Di!" The shabti exploded around the room like play-doh in the microwave. Thanks to Shelby, I know how exactly how that looks. 

Magic therapy, works every time. After my shower, I stopped back by the infirmary. I really hate that place by the way. Jaz was trying to give the queen another sip of a healing potion. Steadying my nerves, I walked into the room. Her breathing had gotten calmer and more even. She spent the time after the guests left to fight against us. Panic perhaps for waking up in a new place surrounded by strangers. I guess she thought we abducted her or something. Suppose she was right on the money. 

She stretched out her right hand towards the glass of water but she couldn't fully extend her arm to grasp it. Jaz helped her up from the pillow and motioned for me to help. Babysitting in a new degree. I handed her the glass, which she dropped. I refilled the glass and helped her drink her from it. It was hard to ignore those eyes staring at me. She kept staring at me like she knew me and I could feel Isis churning around underneath my skin. Perhaps the queen could feel her presence in me….Creepy. 

Quickly as I could, I left the infirmary and went out to the balcony to visit Phillip. Ever since Carter's adventure with the son of Sobek, where he met Percy, we ended up with a new baby crocodile. We drew names out of a hat to pick his name. Zia managed to pull the name Shelby suggested. Snaps. Shelby swore it was a good crocodile name. It also happened to be the name of the cereal she was eating at the moment we wrote down name suggestions. Fair point, Snaps always attempted to snap my fingers off for feeding time. 

I brought out the package of bacon and unzipped the bag. Immediately a set of milky eyes broke the surface of the pool and I smirked. "Looks like I have your attention now. Ready for some lunch?" He gave me a toothy grin about the time that Snaps started squawking like a bird. Mr. Jealously that he is. I tossed a few a slices of bacon to Phillip who proceeded to do flips with each catch. Snaps chewed on his one piece of bacon, and snarled when Phillip splashed him with water. I laughed at the look he gave me. I tossed him another piece of bacon that Phillip stole. Snaps chased Phillip around the pool and into the house, repeatedly biting his tail. Phillip flicked his tail, and Snaps went flying across kitchen until he landed on the table. 

"Why is there a crocodile in the kitchen?" Annabeth asked.

I grinned evilly and looked at Snaps. "I was thinking of trying some crocodile for dinner tonight. They say it tastes like chicken. I wanted to test that theory." Phillip grunted and waddled back to the pool while Snaps jumped from the table and followed him. "Finally." I huffed.

"How was the meeting with the Romans? Any heads go rolling down the stairs?"

Carter groaned. "That girl is scary. Are all Romans like that?"

Percy shook her head. "Reyna is intense but reasonable. Frank is nice but when Reyna is on a roll, there is no stopping her. She gets what she wants."

Annabeth laced her hand in his. "Not always."

"So.. Do they have the crown of Ptolemy or not? I asked.

Annabeth sighed. "Reyna says no, the Romans don't have the crown. So she says and I believe her."

"Reyna said they buried the crown with Cleopatra and Marc Antony near Alexandria." Percy added.

I racked my head. "Ok, so we go to Egypt and find the crown. Piece of Cake."

"Not exactly. " Carter interrupted. 

_(") Of course because nothing is allowed to be simple.(")_

"Horus gave me a warning last night. He said that Setne is after the tomb of Osiris to make himself living so he can perform the spell to become a god. If he becomes a god, he'll be unstoppable . We can't allow it. We also have another problem at hand. Serapis isn't done causing problems. He's gathering strength to strike. He'll attract the Greek and Egyptians Gods and then absorb them. He'll do it soon and we can't let that happen either. No matter how annoying our gods can be, we still need them sometimes. We couldn't take down Apophis without the Egyptian gods. You guys needed your gods to take down both the titans and the giants and Gaea. History repeats itself. Old Enemies rise and we need both sets of gods to keep the monsters away. We need to solve both problems, and they lead to Egypt but I don't know how to do both?" 

Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows in thought. " In 2010, Egyptologists believed they found Cleopatra's tomb. It took a lot of work with radar to narrow down the exact area but I am pretty sure it was along the east harbor. Abusir I think. There was a temple nearby Lake Abusir that Ptolemy had built. It was rumored to be where the Romans buried them, according to my scholars. Camp Jupiter records say that Cleopatra and Marc Antony were buried together in a temple near Alexandria. So, looks like we'll be going to Egypt." 

"Horus hinted at the idea that perhaps the tomb of Osiris is on the island of Philae but only Isis knows where exactly and he said she won't help if we're working with.. well.. You guys"

_(") Subtle, Carter. Real subtle.(")_

"What's wrong with us?" Percy asked.

"The Egyptian gods are a bit biased. They don't forgive easily .Most Egyptians don't believe in forgiving. Isis especially doesn't warm easily. I explained.

"Nice lady." Percy muttered.

I laughed. "You have no idea what is she is like."

A yell echoed down the stairs and forced us to cover our ears.

"What the Hades was that?!" Percy yelled.

"Sleeping beauty doesn't speak English so she figures that the best to communicate that she doesn't like something is to scream? Can we send her back?" I asked.

Carter rolled his and playfully pushed my shoulder. "You're annoying too."

I stuck my tongue out at him. 

When we ended up in Egypt, we went through the annual ritual of spitting out sand like clumps of kitty litter. Gross. Carter swore up and down that we were about 50km from Alexandria. I swore up and down that we were lost beyond words. Perfect.

"We can ask for directions maybe." Carter muttered.

_(") A guy asked for directions. Yep, the world is about to end. Notify the press."_

I looked around and all I saw was sand and camels. "We don't speak Camel." Annabeth replied. "But Percy can speak horse and fish."

We turned to look at him and he blushed. "Cool. Carter speaks history geek and 6 different variations of dork."

"Sadie!" Carter yelled.

"What?" I feigned innocence.

Since I embarrassed him, Carter proceeded to drag us through the desert sand while refusing to tell us how much farther we had to go.

To make matters worse, Percy kept whining about the heat. "Hot, Hot. It's hot. Why is it so freaking hot?"

"It's freaking Egypt. Not Iceland. What did you expect? We have the freaking sand and the freaking sun. Pretty sure Greece is freaking warm too." I smirked. He stuck his tongue out at me. Boys.

"Why couldn't we make a portal here again?" Annabeth panted.

"Complicated magic. Thanks to the fall of the Egyptian empire, Alexandria has been… tainted by Egyptian magic. Magic gets confused there so it isn't safe to use portals unless you're like a god or something. Mortals can't control them and it would probably have killed us if we tried." Carter explained tiredly. 

Finally we reached the small structure just as we were all about to drop. Despite the exhaustion, we ran towards the temple and into the shade. Carter and I walked the circle in the foyer and touched each offering sink. "Maw." Each empty sink filled with clean water for us to drink. We spent a minute to rest before exploring the corridors. After a few moments, Carter jumped to his feet and tried to play coach. "Come on, guys. We need to hurry up and get the crown . If Serapis gets it and destroys it…."

"All is lost." I finished. We get it, Carter but not all of us grew up in Egypt, okay? We did walk through the desert to get here and it a lil hot. We can take a breather. Chill."

"Fine."

Carter paced for a good ten minutes until we all couldn't handle it and got up. "How many tunnels?" Annabeth asked.

"Two big ones that break off into a total of four." Carter answered. His patience stretched out to the max.

"Ok. So two teams of two. We'll go in groups and then break off into the four tunnels. Greeks and Egyptians then each of us on our own." Annabeth supplied.

"What?" The rest of us asked."

She sighed. "We don't have enough daylight left to explore everything as a whole, one tunnel at a time. I am not walking between here and Alexandria twice so it has to be done today. We have no choice gut to split up. Most temples, Greek and Egyptian have many entrances to entice and look pretty but ultimately, they always end up combing into one or two corridors at the most. If this follows the same layout, then we will all meet up together in roughly and hour or so. Okay?"

Percy looked confused and I was too tired to really care but Carter nodded in agreement, obviously excited that someone understood statistics and logic. Annabeth, as different as her world was from ours, she was the closest thing to dad. From what little I remember of him, he was always the cautious and careful one, like Carter. Mom was more reckless, like me.

With no better idea, we formed out groups of two. Based on experience of working together, Annabeth suggested that Carter and I group up while she took the right tunnel with Percy. One hour walk, fine. One hour to annoy Carter . Works for me. 

* * *

_Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffy, kind of need it for the next chapter. Anyhow, thanks for the reviews and the views. Much appreciated._

_Howtobook101: Considered bringing the queen around but considering how damaged a body is after a few years in a coma, I don't think she's ready yet to be out and about. Her knowing Chiron ? hmmm interesting. I didn't consider this considering she went to sleep before Egypt began a relationship with Greece. We'll see_

_Guest: Good catch with the language. Translating hieroglyphs is fairly easy after a while but to make up sentences in ancient Egypt is really hard. Until I know a great deal of the vocab and grammar, I need a substitute. The last of the ancient Egyptian language, is Coptic. Few people know it and the dictionaries are usually a few hundred dollars. Persian and Arabic are similar but I don't like the look of them on paper so I picked Swedish as a temp. language because I like the sounds of it._


	12. Chapter 12: We Rob The Temple Of Doom

**Annabeth**

* * *

Carter, Percy and I made our way back to Camp Half-Blood using another portal on the Kane's roof. We simply popped from their rooftop to the living room in the Big House. Chiron was off to the side in his wheelchair. I looked at him.

"How?"

He smiled and pointed to the small statue of on the mantle. I stood up and looked closely at it. It was a small statue of a seated Isis , with Horus on her lap. Carter's words echoed back. Egyptian items create portals. Percy and Carter shuffled to their feet behind me.

Reyna entered the room from Chiron's office and looked down on us, unsurprised by our sudden appearance. We took our seats on the couch while Reyna proceeded to pace in front of us.

"What's this about the Romans taking Ptolemy's crown? She demanded.

I held up my hands. "We did not mean to accuse you. We simply wanted to know if the Romans knew anything about its disappearance. Objects of power or value are usually taken by the attacking force. The Greeks didn't take it. The Persians did not take it because Cleopatra had it when she died. It would make sense for the Romans to make a show of power by taking it, especially if they knew it granted its wearer power from the gods."

She frowned. "I did not know this."

Carter cleared his throat. " The pharaoh wore two crowns that were mended together. One for upper Egypt, one for lower Egypt. While the pharaoh was being crowned, the spirit of an Egyptian god, usually Horus, would go into his body and their souls would melt into each other I guess. Two souls existed into one body. The pharaoh was worshiped as a living god because he was a living god. The crown was how the god got in, so to speak. When the Greeks invaded, it was passed down to their line of Greek kings."

"Greek Pharaohs?" Reyna asked.

"No. You have to be Egyptian to be a pharaoh. The Egyptian gods won't accept anyone from another bloodline. Especially not from another mythology, like Cleopatra." Carter explained.

"What about Cleopatra?

"Cleopatra was the last one to have the pharaoh's crown. She thought she was from a pharaoh's bloodline and tried to invite Isis into her body. It didn't work. Cleopatra was indeed a godling but she was Greek. Pure Greek. Her father was Greek and her mother was a Greek goddess, Aphrodite, I think. Isis rejected her and she committed suicide. The Romans were the ones that buried her and took over Egypt. They were the last to see the crown." He looked at Reyna.

She paced and turned back towards Carter, looking at him for a long time before speaking. "We did not steal it. We buried it with her and Antony."

"But where did you bury her?" He pressed.

"Why do you need to know?" She countered.

He scoffed. "An evil guy named Setne, came back to life. He raised the god Serapis who intends on destroying both Greek and Egyptian mythology. You may be Roman, but I do know that Roman mythology is a collection of mythologies. Greek, Persian, Egyptian. Your most powerful gods will vanish if their original aspects die off. You'll be without a mythology too. Gods can be annoying but sometimes they're needed. Are you willing to risk that?"

_(") Well__,__ I'm impressed.(")_

Reyna glared at all of us before answering. "She was buried in a temple near her palace on the east coast of Alexandria."

Carter nodded. "I know that temple. Taposiris Magna, Temple of Isis and Osiris."

* * *

If only the temple had been as impressive as its name. For the most, its outside was a crumbling wall surrounding a square of flat land. The real tomb was buried beneath the earth. A small set of stairs down to the empty room with the offering bowls. A crumbled statue in the corner seemed to be mostly dust except for its head lying off to the side. I picked it up and examined it. Looked like the traditional white marble of Greek statues, but the facial features were odd. More plain looking than expected. Long face with a equally long nose, pointing down. Small forehead with full lips and large eyes. She didn't look like Aphrodite but she did look familiar. Wavy hair, with flakes of mahogany paint still attached, was combed back in a traditional Greek style but the clothing was Egyptian. Cleopatra.

I set the head back down on the ground and looked around.

Percy and I headed down the right tunnel while the Kanes took the left. Our feet kicked up the dust that had been settled for thousands of years. The only noise was the crunching of scarab shells beneath the dusty floor. Instinctively I grabbed Percys' hand as we reached the darkest part of the tunnel.

"No light." Percy grumbled. An idea clicked into my head. "Percy, give me your shirt."

Without asking, he took his shirt off and handed it to me. I searched the floor for any suitable twigs or sticks. Sadly, Egypt did not have many trees so nothing was there to use. I fished a box of matches from my pocket and set Percys' shirt on fire.

"Always have a plan." Percy said.

"Always."

* * *

The burning shirt gave enough light to see a few feet down the tunnel. Coast was clear, so far so good. We ran through the tunnel. A moment of nostalgia past through me and I was reminded of our trip through the mansion of Nyx. Running fast through tunnels of darkness. I was so wrapped up in my memories, I failed to notice my surroundings. Rule one of being a demigod: Be aware of your surroundings at all times. The crunching of scarab beetles became the crunching on the tomb floor. Percy had slowed his running to a walk, and pulled me backwards as a chunk of tomb floor fell through in front of us. He firmly wrapped his arm around my waist. He kept us still for a moment.

"The last floor…" I mumbled.

"I know." He nodded grimly. "This isn't our world though, it may not lead to the pit".

"No chances."

"Agreed."

"I'll go first." He announced and jumped over the hole in the floor. He backed up a few feet and held his arms out as if to catch me.

"Your turn, wisegirl."

I jumped across the gap, my heart flying to my throat. Percy grabbed me and pulled me to him. "No pit this time." He smiled.

"Right." I breathed.

We took over down the tunnel as fast as we could. The tunnel floor cracking and splitting behind us. "Faster, Percy!"

* * *

We made it into the main room and collided with Carter and Sadie. "Ow." Carter mumbled and rubbed his forehead.

"Sorry." I muttered.

"Why are you naked?" Sadie asked Percy, trying not to laugh.

Carter elbowed her. "What's with the torch?"

"Needed some light, the floor started to crumble in our tunnel."

Sadie nodded, obviously trying to avoid looking at Percy. "Happened in our tunnel too."

I lifted the burning shirt up further to see the rest of the room. Cinders fell down and started to burn the hairs on my arm. "Ah!" I yelled and was forced to drop Percys' shirt. It extinguished itself on the dirty floor.

"You ok?" Percy asked.

"Fine." I replied and examined my hand in the dark.

"Looks like we'll be doing this the old fashioned way." Carter announced. A glimmer of light came from above, and suddenly I could see a small patch of the wall art to my left. Carter was catching the sunlight with a small, square mirror. The mirror reflected the light to the wall as if he were holding a flashlight. He walked over to the north and pulled up on a pedestal. The pedestal was a larger mirror and it instantly grabbed the light from the small opening above. The mirror reflected its caught light with the other mirrors placed around the room. Carter put away his small mirror and smiled. "Dad showed me that trick our first dig in Aswan."

He smiled like it was a happy thing to remember and then smile melted away as if he remembered something bitter. Sadie looked as distressed but then she cleared her throat, and nodded to the sarcophagi in the front of the room. If the tomb was a theater, the sarcophagi were the stage. All around us were beautiful marble statues of Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Not crumbled ruins like the statue above, but statues still holding together, covered with paint. The walls were painted beautifully, showing the Egyptian afterlife. There were pillars round the room, opening the room by both tunnels and then leading up the sarcophagi. Sphinxes stood guard to the stairs leading up to the burial site. Beautiful combination of Egyptian belief, Greek art and Roman architecture. The best of the best.

_(")This is what the world should have been. A mix of the ancient cultures, blending into one.__(__"__)_

* * *

Carter glanced at Sadie before marching over to the two sarcophagi. He took a deep breath and opened it. There lay the body of woman. It may have been mummified at one point because it had been well bones still had skin on them, dried from natron most likely. Unlike most mummies, this one was dressed in more than linen. She was wearing a dress of white, wrapped in a golden toga. Her headdress was Egyptian, but not a pharaoh's crown. Carter frowned, clearly upset. Sadie put her hand on her brother's shoulder in support. Carter lowered the lid back on the marble sarcophagus and walked away from the shrine in defeat.

Sadie chewed her lip for a moment and cocked her head to the side as if she was listening to some sound we all could not hear. Her expression blanched and she turned towards the second sarcophagus. Marc Antony's sarcophagus was also made of Grecian white marble but decorated him in the Roman tradition of a toga and laurel crown. Sadie met my eyes in a silent plea for help. I handed my pack to Percy and joined her with lifting the lid.

Marc Antony's body did not survive as well as Cleopatra's' had. His body was reduced to preserved bone only. The white tunic was stained with blood from his own sword which lay at his side. His arms were crossed like a pharaoh though he was not wrapped in linen. Apart from the resin on his bones, he seemed to have been dumped in this sarcophagus just after death. They did not even attempt to prepare his body for mummification. Perhaps a shortage of time or his own people did not deem him worthy of the expense. Sad. His skull wore a laurel crown like a Roman leader but above that was a red slab like for holding a candle on the wall. Attached to it was a white bowling pin like object. The double crown of a pharaoh.

* * *

I looked at Sadie and glanced at her brother sulking by a pillar.

"Carter… …Carter, it's here. We found it!" She yelled excitedly.

"That you did, doll." A voice boomed across the room. A wave of heat poured into the underground. Our skin felt brittle like it had been baked for centuries. Sand rolled across the floor like oceans waves, pooling together to form a person.

_(")Gaea.(") _I immediately thought and grabbed my dagger.

Carter growled. "Setne. Show yourself!"

The pooling sand formed a scrawny looking man. Leo was scrawny. Nico looked like a picture of starvation, but this guy was all bones and no meat. He was a skeleton with a layer of skin. His hair was a thick mop of black, combed back and gelled like Elvis. To make matters worse, he was wearing what looked like a suit made of snakeskin, tailored to look like a bare-chested Egyptian with a pharaoh's kilt. He looked goofy except for his eyes that looked beady and dangerous.

Setne spread his arms like he wanted a hug and shouted. "Carter, ole pal! How ya been, buddy?!"

Carter ground his teeth and Sadie backed away, closer to all of us. "You are no friend of mine, Setne. You've tried to kill me many times."

Setne shrugged. "Yeah, but you lived. I know what you can handle, if I really wanted you dead then you'd be dead. Fortunately, you have something that I want."

Carter backed towards the sarcophagus. "You cannot have the crown. It doesn't belong to you."

"Technically, it does. I am my father's heir but it does not go with my new taste in clothes."

"Nothing goes with your clothes." Sadie and I both said simultaneously .

He turned to us and sneered. "No need to insult, dolls."

* * *

We smirked it off but then he began to ponder both Percy and I.

"You have interesting taste in slaves, Carter. I would have chosen better workers. Nubians, perhaps but Greeks? No, even the Persians were far better than Greeks. Now, the Hebrews; Those people knew how to work for a pharaoh."

"They are friends, not slaves." He grumbled as Percy walked up behind me to conceal clicking Riptide.

Setne clicked his tongue. "Tsk Tsk, Carter. Boy, I've told you before you trust way too easily, but to work with Greeks. After all they have done to us. This is no place for their kind."

"Excuse me, but what exactly have we done to you? Percy demanded.

Setne's eyes took on a dangerous hue to them. "Your kind betrayed us. We traded with them once, befriended them and trusted them. Even our gods became friends with yours. When the Nubians, Assyrians and Persians took Egypt, Greece was nowhere to be found. They offered us no aid. They didn't drive the Persians out until many years later and then, they didn't return Egypt to its rightful owners. No, they kept it like it belonged to them. Well, it didn't! They moved right on in like it was their own house. They protected our culture and beliefs but they shoved their own into Egypt as well. Then they started changing things. The name of the country itself, the names of the cities and our gods. Ancient Egyptian is too hard to learn so they merged the languages and the gods. The Greeks complained of Roman rule but they were not much better themselves. They changed our world and then pretended to rule it. A Greek named himself pharaoh, which is heresy in itself. Lazy, apathetic rulers at best, a pathetic excuse of ruling if I've ever seen one. They brought down the dynasty by spending every cent we ever had**,** then the lazy good for nothings, and their harlot leader handed the empire over to the Romans."

I felt my face flush and I looked around the room. Carter and Sadie were still glaring at the badly dressed ghost but they looked less angry at him, and angrier at what he had to say. We were losing control of the situation.

I stepped forward. "I am sorry for what you have faced, but that was thousands of years ago. People have changed and moved on. Greek and Egyptian alike, we are not the same as we once were. Carter and Sadie have let go of the past, so have we... We are not your enemy, Setne. Stand down. Send Serapis away before he destroys your world and mine."

Setne sneered. "Brave words, girl, but you are no Cleopatra. Aphrodite's children alone carry the power of charmspeak. Cleopatra was the first to harness the power of words. Her only prospect of power was her constantly running mouth. "

Percy lunged from behind me and struck with his sword. Riptide went straight through the ghost, unharming him. Percy flailed to the floor, falling through the illusion of a body. Setne looked up, mildly annoyed. He locked eyes with Carter. "You will tell me the location of Osiris's tomb. One way or another, you will help me achieve what I want."

Carter locked his jaw and his form flickered blue. "No, I won't."

Setne looked over at Sadie, who was clenching her hands into fists, and winked at her. "Ready to go, doll?"

A brief look of confusion passed Sadie's face and she melted into sand. Carter yelled and Setne laughed. His form flickered and blew away like dust. "Your help or your sister's life. Think carefully, Carter." Setne's voice echoed before it too vanished like the wind.

* * *

_Author's Note: Welcome to all new readers/favorites and followers. Glad you're here. Also, Thanks for the reviews on chapter 11._

_Howtobook101: Thank You. No, you are not stupid. I had to look up when Egypt first began trade with Greece because I too did consider a relationship between the Greeks and the Egyptian Royals. Percy had to . Needed some angst in there and well, Egypt is hot. Amos knowing about the Greeks. Hmmm. I do have an answer for that but you will have to wait until next chapter to see._

_Guest: That's not polite. I am aware that Percy uncaps his pen in the books. He also clicks it in the movies. I am a fan of both methods but I'm going with the movies on this one. Clicking makes more sense. Rick Riordan can do whatever he wishes with his books, they are his property but his story is my own. I'm incorporating things from both books and movies; whatever I like and think will work with the story._

_So, to the PJ fans, The Blood Of Olympus comes out next week and I am excited beyond words and depressed beyond reasoning. How did the 5 years pass us by so quickly, and why am I so attached to fictional characters? I'm gonna miss Percy so much, I might need therapy. Anyone else going to randomly burst into tears when they see blue food , or use the word "Dam" in a sentence? Thank the stars for more Kane/PJ crossovers. I'm sure the *SPOILER* The Sword of Summer is going to be ok but I can't love that set of myths. I tried._

_Anyways, next week is going to be done by Queen Hetepheres's POV. Should be a rather interesting chapter for you and a challenge for me._


	13. Chapter 13: Where The Past Comes To Life

Hetepheres

* * *

_Author's Note PT 1: __I tried to avoid any major Blood Of Olympus Spoilers this week. Next Week, all bets are off._

Chopped bit of memories flooded my mind. My eldest brother, Kawab played by the river Nile, swollen from the tears of Isis. Djedefra splashed nearby beckoning for Khafra and to join him. Our nurse kept a tight hold to our hands, and shouted at them to get away from the water before Sobek pulled them to their deaths. A servant buried the ceremonial offering, marking the ground of father's future pyramid. We prayed to the gods to bless the ground and the workers. The workers pulled tons of limestone up a ramp and placed each one in their place until last, the pyramid was complete. Brilliant white stone, crowned with gold. Father raised his crook and flail in praise to the gods.

The nature of the memories shifted to darkness, like the sun falling behind a cloud. Images of battles poured in. Father withered and died. Kawab, Djedefra and Khafra followed. Even Merisankh, whom I had watched since birth, had fallen victim to the effects of time. Time flowed like the river Nile, slipping away beyond all control. Then there was nothing; nothing for the longest, and then finally, voices.

* * *

Not a language I'd ever heard before. Father had us instructed in every known language for our future reign, He would not have missed one. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar room. Unfamiliar faces loomed over me as if they had been waiting for me to wake. A boy much darker skinned than the rest put his hand on my shoulder to prevent me from rising up.

_(") How dare he touch me?(") _

I felt dizzy and allowed him to force me back down. Two of the spectators eyed me nervously and quickly left. The others remaining looked uncertainly at each other ,and then dropped to the floor in a bow. I closed my eyes for a moment and drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke, a spotted cat lay beside me on the bed. The boy from earlier stood nearby watching me. He bowed slightly towards me, and turned his attention to the girl in the room. She smiled at me and offered me a cup. I stretched my hand to accept it but my joints refused duty and went slack. The girl offered me a look of pity before holding the cup to my lips with one hand, and holding my head up with the other.

_(") How did I reach such weakness?(") _Against my will,I slipped off into a deep sleep.

I woke up in a beautiful room of white and gold, filled with warm light. The palace of the gods. Thousands of floating lights, gods, flew up into the Duat with such haste it seemed they were running from their very lives. Golden light flooded in and embraced me. Mother.

The vision switched to something else. A never ending hall, its walls glowed with such fierce light. I was drawn to them without question. Reaching out, I touched the images and everything went white.

Images passed through me. Father's pyramid stood at Giza, glowing with power. Khafra's then appeared beside it, then his sons'. Our empire expanded greatly with the rule of each new pharaoh. Dynasties passed with each second. Karnak became a field of obelisks, Abu Simbel was built, Hatshepsut ruled as man, each new dynasty more impressive than the last. Akhenaten refused the old religion and tried to reform a new at Amarna. The old gods struck him down and the old ways restored under his son. Tut failed to provide a living heir, and his successors passed around the crown like a well sought after whore.

The Nubians came to Egypt and stole cats. Cats from the temples, the streets and people's own homes. They fashioned the cats to their shields and marched to meet the Egyptians in battle. The penalty for killing a cat was death. Egypt surrendered rather than to bring the wrath of Bast. The Assyrians took advantage of the political turmoil and took Egypt for themselves. After a small amount of time, Persia marched in and snatched it from them. A bitter international war over the land in the desert. Even our own friends sought it out for their own, claiming it as a mythical prize and source of food and wealth. It was annexed by the Romans, passed to the Arabs, occupied by the French and finally taken by the British. My head spun and ached. It was too much. Too much history crammed too quickly. Millennia of existence flashed by like seconds.

I woke up screaming at the top of my lungs. A girl grabbed my shoulders and tried to steady me. Without meaning to, I held up my palm and she flew across the room and down the stairs. Instantly, I felt better. My body surged with power. My skin glowed with gold light. A boy quickly ran into the room. He looked around and then at me. He noticed my aura and his eyes widened in alarm. I glared at him and held up my palm to speak a spell. Before I could speak anything, he lept at me and held me down; pinning my arms down behind my back and his hand over my mouth. I bit him and screamed for my body guards. The boy clapped my mouth shut again. "Tyst!" He yelled at me and let go of my mouth.

My sudden burst of power and energy had faded. "Fick du kidnappar mig?"

He shook his head. " nej, jag räddade dig från dem som höll dig. Jag är här för att hjälpa dig.

I looked closely at his face, trying to peer into some kind of understanding as to who he was and what he wanted with me. His eyes changed into a warm brown. His nearly shaved head outgrew t a fine crop of black hair and his face, morphed into something familiar to me.

"Anubis?" I questioned. His eyes warmed again and I saw a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

"Hej bebis kusin."

I threw my arms around him and laughed. Past his, I saw the girl I had attacked earlier and my body went rigid. She entered the room and tried to smile at me, like she was saying all was forgiven. The girl pointed at her chest and said "Jaz." I nodded weakly and slumped forward against his shoulder. He talked to Jaz in some foreign language that I could not understand. He nodded at her and helped me lay back down.

* * *

Images, visions swirled through me again. I found myself at Giza, staring at the face of my brother, Khafra. His head attached to a giant lion's body. I forced myself not to dwell on how pitiful it looked compared to when it was first built. Refusing grief, I searched for my purpose here. Mother's voice echoed from the mouth of the sphinx.

_(")You are caught in a war, my dear. The enemies of Kemet's past have not been destroyed as we once believed. The Romans still dwell on this earth, the Greeks have claimed the neighboring lands. We cannot allow them to exist. The Romans destroyed all that we valued and the Greeks, our ally against them, have allowed them to remain. We cannot tolerate this…Allliance. Their friendship. We must not allow it. Setne has given rise the Apis bull, now tainted with the influence of the Hellenistic. He is now longer under our control and we cannot stop him. The crown of your blood will defeat him and thankfully, it has been reclaimed. The pharaoh himself must use the power of Horus to defeat this god before it is too late. ( ")_

"_What of me, mother?"_

_(") You are not just a gift to your pious father, surely you know this. Your value lies in your power. I do not grant this kind of power lightly. You must be the keeper of Ma'at in this new war. Find the tomb of my husband, Osiris. Protect it against Setne. He will try to use its power of resurrection to make himself living. He already possesses the book of Thoth and plans to use it to become a god. All he requires is that spell and someone to perform it on him.(")_

"_I will not return him to life, mother. I swear it."_

_(")No, he currently does not know of you yet. He plans to use my host as leverage against the Pharaoh; forcing him to choose between love for his family or duty to Kemet. I cannot say what he will do. Horus claims he is a devoted leader but, his loyalty towards his sister may rival his loyalty to the land. We must be prepared. His sister's sacrifice may be needed to preserve us all.(")_

I blanched._ Harsh_

"_Then why am I here?_

_(")To show you where your quest must start. Back in the old days, men took a staircase from the dream stele to the First Nome underneath the sphinx. The sphinx is an entrance to more than one place. It will lead you to the ceremonial tomb of Osiris. Touch the sarcophagus in the tomb and think of me, it will take you to the real tomb of Osiris. Believe me, the real one is much more impressive than the ones the humans built.(")_

I scoffed._ "Of course."_

_(") Protect it from Setne at all costs. Make your way back home.(")_

* * *

The feeling of weightlessness persevered and my Ba was again, whisked away into the Duat. I woke up and forced myself from the bed. My strength seemed to have not returned yet. Perhaps next time mother can wait until I've rested a bit before sending me off on some super-important quest across the world to protect her greatest treasure from someone even the gods feared. I staggered down the first set of stairs and more or less fell down the next set. Crashing to the ground, I cried in pain. A flurry of voices and footsteps ran to where I was. A dozen of children or so stared at me in confusion or excitement. I couldn't tell which. I managed to pull my legs from above my head, to my side and debated on getting up. The flurry of children muttered something like _Amos_ but I couldn't be certain.

A darker skinned male walked up to me and smiled. He was the only one here that looked fully grown but his clothing seemed just off. Rather than being dressed for warm weather, he was dressed head to toe. The diamonds glittered in his hair as he bowed and then lifted me up to his arms. He smiled at me again, and set me down on my own bed. I sighed. Few people here could understand my language apart from Anubis and that girl with the short black hair. Neither of which I saw. The man kept staring at me, it made my skin crawl. "Kemet?" I asked in a futile attempt for communication.

He nodded. "Kemet."

I smiled and pointed towards the window in a question. "Kemet?"

His smiled dissolved and he shook his head. "det är en lång väg härifrån."

" Jag vill gå."

He shook his head. "You cannot go yet."

I gave him as puzzled look and he corrected himself.

He placed his hand on my forehead and spoke a spell "Med-wah"

He cleared his throat. "My lady, you are not yet well enough to travel such distance."

"I was not asking for permission."

He paused. "I see."

He placed his hand on my forehead. "One more day of rest first then we shall go to Egypt."

I frowned. Egypt? Before I could contemplate that word,my eyelids closed, engulfing me into a deep sleep. I should have known to not trust him. I'll report his treason to father when we arrive in Kemet. Shame I cannot inform him of the matter now but sleep spells always trap the Ba in the body. Spirit travel is only permitted to those suffering under a restless spirit.

* * *

As the foggyness from the spell wore off, I forced myself awake. I was in a different room. This one was painted with many colors and schemes. Images of the Field of Offerings graced the wall closest to me and I was reminded of my room in the palace of my father. Djedefra and Khafra both had their rooms painted with hunting scenes, typical for princes. Mine always showed the river Nile. I touched the painting and thought of how we all nearly drowned in the river of life. Irony.

On the table next to the bed was a basket of figs. My mouth watered. How long had it been since I had eaten any? Other than the healing potions Jaz had given me, I hadn't drank either. I nimbled on the first one and reached for another. They tasted better than I could ever recall. I inhaled them one after the other. The sticky redish purple juice poured down my chin. All notion of manners forgotten in the emptied the basket and sucked the juice from the fingertips.

"Looks like the figs went over well. " The man called Amos said as he entered the room. "I take it you were a bit hungry after all." I frowned. _ (")Did he just call me fat? (")_

He looked at my dress and frowned at the stains of fig juice. "Perhaps it would not hurt for Zia and Jaz to help you with a bath."

_(") How intuitive.(")_

"I'll have the girls come help shortly." He excused himself.

Slowly, I made my way to orange glow of a sunrise brightened the horizon. The pyramids gleamed in the distance but they looked tan instead of white, and smaller too. Odd. The landscape looked very much the same as it always had. Desert sands and towers to the heavens. Khafra's sphinx still stood, only smaller and without its paint job. My mind clicked. My mission. I walked over to my balcony and tried to judge the distance. I considered using the bedsheets as a rope to help me down as I heard voices on the other side of the wall. The girls.

* * *

My head broke the surface of the water and my gasped for air. The steam from the bath swirled in the room, putting me on edge. The air seemed to thicken around me. Zia and Jaz looked quite nervous but said nothing. The water became uncomfortably hot and I squirmed to get out of the tub. The two girls helped pull me out. They more or less carried me to the bed and toweled me off. The steam continued to swirl throughout the room and I suddenly felt very dizzy. Voices echoed in the mist, trying desperately to get my attention. There were too many of them to focus on. I threw my head back, trying to expel the voices from my thoughts.

The one called Zia kept shaking my shoulder, trying to get my attention. I felt so hot like my blood was boiling in my veins. Beads of sweat trickled down my face. Jaz kept a hand on my forehead and muttered some incantation, trying to reduce my fever. The voices got louder and louder until I was certain they were nearer to me than the two girls touching me.

The voices quieted down and faded away. I heard the girls gasp and I understood why. Suddenly, not only was I dried off but I was also dressed. Not in my dress that I had been "buried" in, but I was wearing one of my most favored pieces. Made of white silk, not cotton. My jewelry had reappeared as well, my arm bands and wrist bracelets, a heavy golden collar along with my crown. My ears felt weighted and to the touch, I knew my earrings had been returned, despite the fact the holes in my ear had closed up after Merisankh's birth. Getting my bearings, I wasn't the least bit surprised to my jeweled sandals attached to my feet. Slowly, I walked to the reflecting glass in the room and stared at the sight. Gloss graced my lips, kohl lined my eyes but the eyes. My eyes shimmered gold for a few moments before retreating back to their usual silt brown. The voices echoed again in my head.

"_He is coming for you."_

* * *

_Author's Note: Welcome any new followers/readers. Glad you're here. As always, reviews are appreciated. Big Thank Yous to those who left me one for Chapter 12. Chapter 14 will be under Percy's POV.  
_

_Please not that if you are going to review under the name "Guest", please try and add something to the name like an extra letter or , I will assume that every "Guest" is the same person._

_Now to answer reviews_

_Guest 1: You wanted the Percy Jackson series to end?_

_Scooby Dooby Doo: Nice name. Percy and Annabeth show up in chapter beginning background was needed for the story. If you are referring to the ship name, they have and will have some moments together as a couple._

_Guest 2: I love the DAM jokes. My favorite book joke of all of Rick's series. I use them as often as I can. If I had the cash for professional therapy, I bet that I would sign up for it. I wonder how many of us fangirls, and fanboys actually suffer enough that it's noticeable. I always imagine that the fanboys get detention in school for failing to do their work, and the fangirls lock themselves in their rooms and cry. Being older than the intended age for PJ/HOO/Kane books always makes me a bit of an outsider so I typically "mourn" the books a bit differently._

_Howtobook101: As alwaysI love your enthusiam with this story. You remind me of me when I cyberstalk Rick on twitter... Wow. That came out wrong. I mean the excited questions as reviews and the enthusiam. Well, it's cool. :P. Anyways, Sadie has been abducted. Not telling where Setne has her an Ruby do NOT know..yet. Lol It should be interesting yes? I did hear about Rick's norse series. I addressed it in last chapter's Author's Note. Poor Annie, her family is so ...godly. Lol_

_Now, For those that read Blood Of Olympus. Anyone crying in agony besides me? " To love is to destroy." When the wrote that quote, they had Rick Riordan in mind. We read the books, we fall in love with fictional people and then BAM, it's over, have a nice life. Sometimes good books are a curse._


	14. Chapter 14: We Tour Egypt's Hall Of Fame

**Percy**

* * *

_(")Ok, I admit it. I felt terrible. The stupid ghost baited me into a fight and insulted Annabeth. It was his plan all along to unhinge us and take Sadie for leverage. He played us like a fiddle. I looked at Carter, whom had sat down and __had_ _started to cry like a little kid. I wasn't his biggest fan nor did I have a little sister, but still, I knew what it was like to have someone you love be kidnapped. My fatal flow was personal loyalty. I had a feeling Carter's was too. Athena said I would sacrifice the world to save a friend. She's right, as usual. If Carter had to choose, he would not choose the world.(")_

Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder and tried to talk to him. He paid no attention to her. I put away Riptide and looked around the tomb. Apart from the statues of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, the tomb was fairly empty. Smaller statues lined the walls next to each statue of the doomed couple. Their children, I assumed. I could barely remember their names. Caesarion I remembered because it sounded like Cesarean, a lovely word my mom taught me about. The twins weren't too hard to know**:** Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene. Alexander for Alexander the Great and Cleopatra junior. Helios and Selene were easy enough to remember from Apollo and Artemis. The fourth kid was the one pain in the rump name. Ptolemy Philadelphus. Heh. Sounds like Philadephia. Maybe Cleopatra had a food craving for some Philadelphia cream cheese and the nurse misunderstood her. It could happen.

Their statues were kinda hard to look at considering that Caesarion was murdered, and the other three were taken back to Rome as hostages. The two boys later vanished from history. _(")*Coughs* executed *coughs*.(") _Cleopatra Selene was the only one left to remain.

"I'm going to destroy his soul." Carter said as he stood.

"What ?" I asked.

"He wants leverage on me, so I'll find better leverage on him." Carter said and stormed out of the tomb.

I looked at Annabeth for an explanation. She smiled and took my hand. "The Egyptians believe they would use their bodies again for the next life. If Setne was to return to life, he'll need his body which, thanks to mummification is preserved. If Carter destroys Setne's body then the spell won't work and Setne is stuck a ghost forever, he'll never be immortal."

"That's… devious."

We walked back across the blissfully hot desert. Even as a child of Poseidon, I felt dried out and baked. People should not live in places like this. The heat, the lack of water. Not much of a way to survive.

"Thinking the ancient Egyptians were the poster people for skin cancer." I said.

"Or dehydration." Annabeth added.

Carter just walked on in silence, shifting between anger and sadness. He reminded me some of Nico. Obviously, he wasn't in the mood to talk. Poor kid.

We kept walking for what seemed like forever until we came to the city of Alexandria. I admit it didn't look like all that much to me. I'm a New Yorker, I'm used to big cities, tall buildings and horrible crowds but Annabeth was impressed.

"Egypt didn't have a sea port until the conquest of Alexander the Great. It's the second largest city in Egypt after Cairo. The ruins of Cleopatra's palace are in the bottom of the harbor from the earthquake. Largest city in the Mediterranean world. Its lighthouse on Pharos was one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World. All have crumbled away 'cept the Great Pyramid at Giza. "

_(")Don't even get her started on the Library of Alexandria.(")_

"Julius Caesar ordered an attack against Cleopatra's siblings when he first came to Alexandria. He set the ships in the harbor on fire in order to contain the Egyptian army. He should have known better than to use Greek fire so foolishly. Even the gods have trouble containing it, much less mortals. If he was thinking properly, he could have collapsed the gates and executed the king to stop the rebellion. All of those scrolls were lost in the flames. Just think if they had survived. All of the architecture written down, dictionaries to dead languages, charting the stars. All of it could have been saved if Caesar wasn't so reckless. According to legend, most works were done by the Egyptian god Thoth himself. He even noted how the pyramids were built. Only good thing about the library burning is that the recipe for Greek fire was lost too. Thank the gods for that."

Carter almost smiled at that as he rigged up another statue for us to use as a portal. In no time, we were flying through an array of swirling black sand that dumped us in the middle of the Cairo airport.

"All that to catch a plane?" I asked.

Carter shook his head. "We need back up to face Setne."

* * *

We followed Carter to the basement where he opened a part of the wall. "Great work, Merlin."

Carter frowned at me and kept going. _(")Jeez. Sadie is defiantly the happier of the two.(")_

He led us to a gap in the underground road, like there was a bridge missing. He faced us and sighed. "Each of us must pass through to the other side. "

I raised my hand. "There's no bridge."

He rolled his eyes. "There doesn't appear to be a bridge but there are several ways to get across it. This is a test of power."

"I hate tests." I grumbled.

Carter sighed again. "I can't help any of you across it; this is something you must learn to do yourselves."

"Gee, thanks."

Annabeth elbowed me and I stepped up to the gap. I thought of the ocean. The smell of the sea, the sound of the tide and I summoned water. A tugging sensation tickled my stomach and a wave of water rose from the gap. It carried me to the other side and deposited me n the other side of the bridge.

I held out my hand. "Annabeth?"

She took a deep breath and took a step. She closed her eyes, and just kept walking like there was a bridge there all along but it was invisible. She just kept walking towards me. A golden aura engulfed her , and I was reminded of my mother on Half-Blood Hill. The Minotaur used golden light to capture my mom's spirit and send her to Hades.

"Come on, Annabeth. You're doing great."

She gingerly reached for my hand, and when she had it, I pulled her to me. Annabeth opened her eyes and smiled at me. I leaned in and kissed her as Carter made his way across the chasm. He cleared his throat after a few minutes, and I remembered Annabeth needed to breathe. _(")Oops.(")_

Carter led us through a roughly small entrance. I was expecting a handful of people, not an army. There were people everywhere .The men had set up an old style market with tents. The women gossiped by an old well, and the kids ran all over the place like wild animals. Speaking of which, various people walked all sorts of animals around on leashes. Lions, leopards, and something that looked like a cross between a wolf and coyote. Oh yeah, and cats. They had tons of cats.

* * *

We followed Carter through the improvised marketplace and down another hallway. I was beginning to think that the Egyptians were fans of long, dark hallways when a light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

_(")Before you ask; Yes, I meant that line literally. No, __i__t was not a train.(")_

Our dark corridor opened into… _(__")__Wait for it… If you guessed "another long hallway?" then you win a cookie.(")_

This new hallway was the longest one yet, spanning more distance than I could see. The walls of the hallway glowed with light and I could see images moving. Every so often the color of the light changed. Silver, Bronze, Gold and more. Annabeth reached for the lights but Carter yanked her hand back. "They're memories; Clips of history frozen in time... If you touch them, your soul will leave your body and enter the scene. Honestly, Sadie's told me that it's really cool to see the past in person but sadly, while you're there your body quickly dies."

"Ok. Don't touch the lights." I summarized.

"Or look at them for too long." Carter added.

"No touchy, no lookie. Got it."

I had to keep tugging at Annabeth's hand to keep her from staring too long. I knew it was hard for her. As much as she is like Athena, she's also like her dad. He is a history buff to the core and Annabeth inherited the love of history. Her dad nearly wet himself when he met Zoe Nightshade; a hunter of Artemis who had witnessed a battle first hand that Mr. Chase was researching. A chance to see history happen as it happens, well, few history buffs would pass that opportunity up.

Carter had us walking till we nearly walked our feet off. He explained that the hallway was to encompass the existence of Egypt. Every year, a new section grew, glowing with a different light to reflect the nature of that time. It gave me a headache to think Egypt was that old but more disturbing was how connected Egypt was to the rest of the world. I saw clips of Greece forming in various sections of time. It blew my mind that Egypt had a fully functioning empire by the time the Greeks left their caves. I saw clips of the Greek gods in Egypt, and I had turned to get Annabeth's attention. I noticed that Annabeth stopped walking down the hall, and was staring at a later section of the curtain. I grabbed her hand to get her attention until I realized what she was looking at.

It was her mother, Athena in Rome. Odd, considering that Athena is not a fan of Romans. In the image viewing thingy, Athena stood on Palatine Hill and overlooked the city. She frowned at the people and I knew well enough from experience to know that someone was about to pay. She produced a jar of green fire from her sleeve. I gulped. I've had too many run in with Greek fire. Sometimes, it saved me. Other times, it was worse than the monster. Greek fire doesn't just burn and go out. It burns through everything in seconds. Waterproof and wind resistant, it takes a god to stop that stuff.

Athena chucked the jar like she was throwing a spear. In a split second, it glided through the air and smashed on a Roman street. The flames took off like the wind, spewing in every direction. They engulfed Rome too quickly for a mortal to see. Houses, people, animals, plants, it destroyed everything. The green flames spread over the water, and continued north, south and west, burning down the Roman Empire. I looked East and saw some strange symbols hovering above it. A stick with a cross at the top, a circle and an arm with some twisted fingers. Hieroglyphs, I assumed. Next to me, Annabeth took a deep breath.

"Protect." She said.

"What?"

"Symbols in the East. Hieroglyphs for protect. I saw Sadie use it once. It's a spell to protect the east from the fire."

I frowned. "So, she's burning Rome but protecting Greece in the East."

"I don't think so. I've never known a Greek goddess to use Egyptian magic. That sounds like…" She stopped.

"Who?"

"Sounds like Isis but why would she..?"

* * *

Ag olden orb of light flicked next to Athena and an Arabic looking woman appeared from it. Her face was beautiful but serene, like she was elated but trying to hide it. She wore a beautiful white dress similar to that of the ancient Egyptians. Her hair was braided with diamonds and I instantly thought of the giant, Alcyoneus. Not a good memory there. She had wings, like bird wings but they were multi-colored like a rainbow. I wondered for a moment if Iris the rainbow goddess sold them to her at her store; Rainbow Organic Foods and Lifestyle. The woman glowed with power and I realized I was looking at an Egyptian goddess.

She casually walked over to where Athena was standing and looked smugly at the burning empire. The fire reflecting in her eyes gave her a sinister look and I fell backwards. Annabeth and I fell to the floor and looked up to see Carter staring at us worriedly. I guess we had been staring too long at the walls because my head throbbed like the time Blackjack kicked it.

"I told you, don't stare at the images. You're lucky you're not dead." Carter whined. I nodded and helped Annabeth up. "Sorry, man." He just shook his head and kept us going down the long hallway. Carter had us walking in front of him to keep us from looking at the images. Happily, it worked. The light at the end of the tunnel was the latest section of wall forming. A bright, glittery light poured from the dark nothingness, and turned a dark purple as it attached itself to the rest of the time tapestry.

I glanced back at Carter, remembering what Sadie had told Annabeth. "Chaos?"

Carter nodded. "The Egyptians believe in Ma'at and Isfet; Order and Chaos. We don't believe in good or evil. That is what Egypt stands for, order and reason out of ugly randomness. It's why we survived all these millennia. We choose to believe in Ma'at. These walls show this, Egypt's recorded history literally comes from chaos. I nodded and looked forward. There was an empty throne in the front, facing the hallway. I looked at Carter. "Your throne?"

He nodded. "Yes. When I'm here anyway. My uncle looks after Egypt while I run Brooklyn House. I don't feel comfortable enough yet to run all the Nomes. I'd like to graduate high school first before I rule the world." He laughed shakily and led us down a set of stairs behind the throne. Immediately, I heard voices around the corner and reached for my sword. Carter shook his head at me and walked into the leading room. A dark skinned man dressed in a suit was arguing with the girl I knew as Zia, Carter's girlfriend.

She saw Carter and stopped talking. Zia ran to him and hugged him. "There you are! We almost thought you guys weren't coming."

Carter tried to smile and hugged her back. "Yeah, we made it."

She looked at us and her smile faded. "Where is Sadie?"

Annabeth and I glanced at each other as Carter made a choking sound.

The older man looked troubled but thankfully, he seemed to understand the situation. "Come and sit down, it appears there is much for us to discuss."

* * *

After a few moments, there was not much to say. The man in the suit had introduced himself as Amos, Carter's uncle and steward of Egypt's empire; the fill in Pharaoh until Carter grew up and assumed full control. Amos drummed the table with his fingertips. "Setne is using Sadie as leverage, Carter. He is hoping you will trade your help in exchange for your sister. However, it is a catch 22. If you save Sadie then Setne will become living and fully capable of wrecking havoc. This we cannot allow, yet I will not see my niece killed by that madman and there is the matter of Serapis to deal with. He combines both Greek and Egyptian aspects, controlling and replacing both mythologies. We cannot allow him to gain any more power in this world or neither of us may have a mythology left if he consumes the essence of the gods. "

I raised my hand. "How does one consume a god?"

Amos shrugged. "The soul of the god is absorbed by another god. They cease to exist. Isis and Sekhmet were once excellent at absorbing other gods effectively killing them and taking their power. As the right hand woman of Ra, Sekhmet has slain many gods over the years. Isis, however, is very manipulative. She's slain and absorbeda handful of gods from various mythologies to either obliterate an enemy or to steal their power. "

"She sounds delightful." I muttered. I looked over to Annabeth who was being unusually quiet during war meetings.

Annabeth looked up. "She was the woman we saw in the images, Percy. She was the one protecting the East while Athena burned the Western half of the Roman Empire. It was like they were working together."

"They were." Amos answered. "There was a time our world were very involved with each other. Egypt looked after Greece like a younger sibling, sharing knowledge and in return, Greece shared spoils of the trade. Our people and gods once became friends. Artemis and Bastet, Thoth and Hermes and Athena and Isis; brought together for their shared hatred of Romans. They burned the Rome in revenge for their, ah**,** ridiculous Roman aspects."

"So, the Egyptians are aware of other mythologies then?" I asked.

Amos shrugged. "Of course, we've been watching them for thousands of years. Greeks in Manhattan, Romans in California, Norse in Boston and those are just the main four. Hawaii has Pele, India has Kali, and the list goes on. However, we have gotten off topic. Now then, you have the crown to use against Serapis but you need to stop Setne as well. You may have to split up to achieve your goal. The equinox is a few days off. Whatever the magician and the god have planned, they will attempt it on that day. Equinoxes hold a lot of power being the day is equal to the night. It's a very auspicious time, perfect for casting large and complex spells. "

* * *

_(")Honestly, I just nodded and didn't pay much attention to that. I'm not a witch so it's not my field of expertise. Now, if you're looking to annoy a god, I can help with that. Magic? Not so much.(")_

Amos excused himself to contact the other Nomes about Sadie's kidnapping and Carter left to break the news to Walt. Annabeth and I took it upon ourselves to rest up a bit before we decided how to tackle both jobs. I had a nagging suspicion that we couldn't do both in one day. To make matters worse, Annabeth didn't disagree with me.

* * *

_Author's Note: Kinda had to end it there. Sorry. Next Week is Carter' s POV. Thanks for the reviews._

_In other news, did you guys know that Rick is making another Percy Jackson book? It's called Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes. It's about the demigods in the myths. Also from Percy's POV, sass included. It comes out on Percy's birthday. Also, The third official Kane/PJ crossover is called "The Crown of Ptolemy" and it is also from Percy's POV. _

_Howtobook101: Thank You. Yeah, BOO killed me too. It hurt. A lot._

_Matt: Rick knows how to hurt us so deeply. We hate him and love him._


	15. Chapter 15: Tale Of A Corpse And A Cat

**Carter**

* * *

_(")I miss my sister. There, I said it. I miss her sarcastic and annoying comments. Hopefully she's ok. If Setne hurt her, I swear to Ra that he will pay.(")_

Percy and Annabeth were trying to help but that didn't seem to do much good. I'm her big brother, I'm supposed to be the one that protects her and I failed her. To make matters worse, I broke down and cried like a baby in front of my new companions. Whatever shred of respect that I had earned from them had now been lost. I intended for Setne to pay. He wants to become living so he can be a god. He doesn't deserve immortality, though dad always told me that the ancient Egyptians valued life in the next world, not in this one. They considered anyone to live forever in this world to be cursed. Never dying or passing unto the Field of offerings, always to be apart from those you loved whom have passed. Sounds like a curse. If I could never die then I'd never see my parents again. Being separated from them was horrific the first time around. I couldn't handle for them to always be out of my reach. The longing for closure would make me want to die.

Setne would need his body to become living but where was it? If I could destroy the body then I could prevent him from returning to life and thus prevent him from becoming a god. Three days was not enough time to find his tomb, if it hadn't been found already. Dad once said there were thousands of mummies in the Cairo museum. Amos might know if Setne's is there or not.

I let Percy and Annabeth get some rest while I could talk to my uncle and girlfriend alone. Amos had finished up his scrying and turned to face me. "The other Nomes will keep their eyes peeled for Sadie but chances are that Setne has her captive somewhere heavily guarded with magic. We can try to search for her but I am unsure it would be of any help. I've alerted Julius and Ruby as well."

I nodded and tried not to think of how they were dealing with her kidnapping. Hopefully I could correct this before he got her. I looked at Amos. "Is there a chance that Setne's body is in the Cairo museum?"

He frowned. "It's very likely. His father built an elaborate tomb for himself and his family. The first mausoleum perhaps. He had his queens and children buried there. I think that if his body survived**,** then it should have been entombed there and would be taken to Cairo. What do you hope to accomplish with his body, Carter?"

I shrugged. "He took Sadie for leverage. I want leverage of my own. He can't become living if his body is destroyed. If he won't release Sadie, then I'll destroy the body."

"Carter, that is a very dangerous thing to do. It's a dark crime to intentionally destroy a body. You damn the soul to no afterlife. Granted, Setne doesn't deserve one in my opinion but you mustn't interfere with the judging process. The scales choose his afterlife for him. It is not our place to decide what he deserves."

_(")Unfortunately the gift of wisdom was strong in my family, along with the natural gift of knowing right from wrong. It was an annoying thing.(")_

"It isn't fair. I need something to use against him or he has nothing to prevent him from using me and killing Sadie. He'd do it. He's a jerk and doesn't care who he hurts."

Amos sighed and smiled sadly. "Carter, go back to the museum and search for Setne's mummy. Just remember the order of Ma'at before you do anything to damage the body or spirit."

* * *

Simple enough. I nodded and found my way out of the First Nome. The portal from the Chief Lector's office dumped me back in the Cairo museum, next to a rack of mummies. This was all very familiar and somewhat comforting. Dad and I once found a partial mummy in the Wadi El Natrun. A long valley where natron occurs naturally. Mummification was expensive so poor people would improvise any way they could.

The mummies were stacked like coins, on top of each other reaching the ceiling. I sighed and read the cartouche on each sarcophagus. Most were noble men and a few women. No, Setne was a prince. The royal mummies would be placed elsewhere. They'd have their own special room or rooms for them. I grabbed a map of the building and searched. The royal mummies were arranged by dynasty. Ramesses the Great ruled around the 20th dynasty so he would be stashed near Tut's family from the 18th dynasty.

I pulled a black piece of cloth from my pocket and spoke a command. _I'mun._ Hide. The cloth vanished and a cloud of black smoke formed over my head. Perfect. I instantly relaxed now that no one could see me. Making my way up to the second floor, I had to remind myself to duck out of people's way to avoid being run over by carts and getting stepped on.

As expected, each room on the floor contained royal mummies from a dynasty. Following the numbers, I made it to room 19. The room was filled with bodies. Each body was so perfectly preserved , they looked like the stone statues of themselves but without their eyeballs. I stopped by the sarcophagus of Ramesses the Great and looked in.

He didn't look much like me, or my mom, but in some weird way, we were all family. His skin was darker than mine, a product of the natron. His hair was a fiery red, a combination of his henna usage, his alliance with Set and genetics. Contrary to popular belief, the ancient Egyptians were actually closer related to the people of the Mediterranean rather than others in Africa. Looking at his hair, I could see that. Hetepheres's grandmother was a blonde. Hatshepsut was a brunette. Life happens. Perhaps Ramesses**'** connection to Set tainted his son.

Shrugging, I backed away and kept looking. There had to be a thousand mummies in the museum and a number of them were from this dynasty. I kept checking the cartouches for the correct name and came up empty. It wasn't fair.

* * *

_(")Yeah, I know, Dad. Fairness means that everyone gets what they deserve and he only way to make that happen is to make it happen yourself. Got it. Message received, loud and clear. (")_

My point is that not a single mummy was called Setne or Khaemwaset. There were however two mummies without a cartouche. Both male and around the right age, yet I had no idea which mummy was his or if either were. At least they were the right bloodline and dynasty; that was at least a start. Ramesses the Great had fathered over a hundred children, mostly sons. Not an easy job to pick them all out. Setne was simply one of many children. Bet Ramesses loved Father's day.

The first mummy didn't real strike me as anything. Just a run of the mill royal mummy; perfect mummification and a nice sarcophagus. Setne created a lot of crime when he was alive as well as dead. He stole the Book of Thoth, he killed the sacred cattle, defaced tombs of the gods, stole their offerings and killed several men. His body would have been prepared for the afterlife because he was a prince yet because of all of his crimes, he brought shame to the pharaoh and all of Egypt. Due to his crimes, his body would have encased in sheepskin, a mark of disgrace. Prepared yet disgraced. This mummy couldn't be Setne. His body was treated too well.

Moving on to the next guy. His "name" was unknown man E.. Quite a title. His arms were at his sides like the 20th dynasty. Pierced ears and hennaed toes, he was a man of status but it didn't always mean prince. At his feet was a hunk of sheepskin that the body had been lying in after it was wrapped in bandages. Definitely a mark of disgrace meaning he had committed some type of crime but not quite bad enough to have the body destroyed. Hmmm. His face was the final mark of weirdness or just plain creepy. I've seen a lot of mummies as I may have mentioned. Sometimes their faces looks surreal like they were just sleeping, sometimes not. Queen… King… Whatever. Hatshepsut's mummy is actually smiling. Creepy.

This guy was screaming. He face was morphed into a scream like he had been set on fire. Or buried alive. Cruel beyond cruel in my opinion. Dad used to tell me that the ancient Egyptians burned people to death if they committed a horrible crime like treason or killing a pharaoh. The penalty was death, not just in this life but in the next. Burning to death is a horrible death on its own but since it destroys your body, then there is no chance of an afterlife for that person. No body for the Ba to enter and receive judgment. They also used criminals to keep the crocodiles of the Nile well fed.

This man had suffered a horrible death and was barely mummified. His abdomen had no incision to remove the organs and his nose was not broken, indicating he still had his brain. He was important enough to be mummified and entombed but he obviously committed crimes of horrible nature and was allowed to keep his body. He had to have had connections. The type Setne would have. Even if Setne had killed, he would still have been prepared for the afterlife. He was still a prince after all. Even if he was a murdering, backstabbing traitor. Royal yet disgraced. This was Setne's body. This was prince Khaemwaset.

* * *

How to kidnap him though? I removed my spell of invisibility to focus on another spell. I slashed my hand through the air and concentrated. Opening the Duat was fairly simple for me like Sadie opening portals. I focused on my locker that I kept stored there. I forced it to open as wide as I could. I once trapped Set's sacred animal in the locker. It took an enormous amount of strength to hurl him in and close it. This time, it was much easier. Mummies loose almost all of their weight while the natron dries them out. Setne was almost as light as a feather. Odd joke considering that phrase meant the person passed the judgment of the halls of Osiris, something Setne could never survive.

I just finished closing the door to the Duat when I heard a low growl behind me.

Should have known that was too easy. It's like math, if it seems easy, you're doing it wrong. If the mission is going smoothing, something will pop up.

_(")I hate being right.(")_

* * *

I turned around and came face to face with a snarling head of a cat. Its body was that of a leopard but that's where it stopped being normal. Its neck was as long a giraffe with regular cat head. Serpopards. Long necks. Crap.

I lunged to the left as its head snapped at me. She... I assumed it was a she, roared at me and I was briefly reminded of that Katy Perry song that Sadie loves. If you come across a big cat like this, heed my advice. Don't roar at it as a show of dominance, it'll just kill you. I leapt over a sarcophagus in a feeble attempt to outrun it. Stupid idea. The cat jumped over the sarcophagus like it was nothing. Most people get a crazy kitten, a sphinx here or there. Me? I get the attack cat of ancient Egypt.

I ran as fast as I could down the stairs only to run into super-kitty waiting for me at the bottom. I summoned my khopesh from the Duat and swung, my aim went wild and I missed. The Serpopard just snarled and swiped her paw at me. Her claw scraped down my arm, cutting me open. I yelled in pain and dropped my sword. I looked down at my arm and she pounced on me. She bit at my neck and I remember screaming. This giant wave of water came out of nowhere and washed the cat away. I looked around to find myself lying in a pool of water. The museum was soaked like a pipe had burst. I stood up shakily and water rose to my knees.

The Serpopard was lying on top of a glass case. She was drenched and breathing hard. Her eyes were wild looking like she was in between thoroughly ticked off and completely confused. She deserved the ticked off part for biting me but I couldn't blame her for being confused. I continued looking around at the museum's new flood.  
"You ok, Carter?" A voice called and I looked around.

* * *

I spotted Percy standing in water by the now submerged water fountain. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing a healing potion can't fix."

"Good."

"Could ya stop trying to drown me though?"

"We'll see." He smirked and turned his attention to the cat.

"What in the Hades is that?" He asked.

"Serpopards. Serpent Leopards. We call them long necks."

He studied the cat. "You guys have some weird monsters."

"Yeah, they go along with our weird gods, now can we just kill the thing?"

He shrugged and walked through the water towards the glass case.

The cat snarled and hissed. Percy drew his sword and the cat hissed at the sight of his sword. Percy once said that his sword was made of star bronze or something like that and its touch alone could send a monster's spirit to hell. What hell? I don't know. We don't have one in our mythology.

The Serpopard growled and crouched down to pounce. I tried to quietly make my way over to help. The cat growled again, and looked behind her to glance at me before looking back at Percy. She knew she was trapped. She grabbed the railing on the second floor with her jaw and hoisted herself up. I had no idea how she managed her weight with just her mouth. We ran after her.

Percy, who could run a great deal faster than me in water, ran up the stairs and chased after her. She darted towards the section of Shabti figurines and found her way over to the only wall without glass cases. Percy managed to corner her in that room but before they could face off, the Serpopard jumped into the wall and vanished. Percy glanced at me.

* * *

"Did I really see that?"

"Yeah."

"That was weird."

"Yeah.

He gave me some linen to help bandage my neck. "How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"Your uncle said you were planning to do something kind of crazy and recommended that you might need some help."

"You came to help me?"

"Friends don't let friends do crazy stuff alone." He quipped.

We laughed.

"Did you get the body?

I nodded and thought about the body in the Duat and I got nervous. Setne was a master of magic. He was thousands of years old and he had worked through millennia to become one of the most powerful magicians in the world. He would have, should have suspected something on my part. I felt like my nervous system was collapsing and the healing potion in my stomach had turned to acid. Yuck.

I tried to gather strength and focused on my locker in the Duat. Slowly I reached my hand past the veil and unlocked the locker. I heard Percy mumble nervously. "Um, Carter?"

"Just a second." I answered and grabbed the mummy's foot. I summoned some strength from Horus and pulled the mummy from my locker, closing the door and locking it in one swing. I fell backward and the mummy clattered to the floor.

* * *

"Piece of cake." I breathed.

"You were literally steaming, Carter."

I tried to shrug. "Needed a lot of power."

"What happens to you if you use too much?" He asked.

"You remember that myth about Dionysus's birth and what happened to his mom when she looked at Zeus's true form?"

"Yeah."

"That's what happens to us."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We sat there for a moment before Percy stood and said. "Think it's time to take this mummy back home."

I nodded and got up. Percy used his powers to make the water retreat out the doors of the museum. Thankfully the visitors had practically fled the building when Percy arrived. I opened a portal using a statue of Hatshepsut and Percy and I vanished with the mummy in tow.

* * *

We dropped from the portal into the training area. Percy and I carried the body through the tunnels of the first Nome and placed the body in Amos's office area. Percy went to check on Annabeth just before Amos came in. He took one look at the body and frowned. "He certainly did not die of natural causes."

_(")I resisted the urge to say "Duh, really? I never would have guessed.." But I didn't. I kept the sarcasm in. That problem has started to get worse with age. Think it's from being around certain people. I could ignore most of Sadie's comments but getting it from Percy too was about to drive me plain bonkers.(")_

Amos examined the face of the mummy. "He certainly looks like Setne. Thankfully Ramesses thought a great deal of his children and he had a number of statues of his children made. Khaemwaset included. Amos noted the binding of hands and feet. A common burial practice of the time in history.

"He was buried in sheepskin." I blurted out.

"Common practice with noblemen who had criminal background. A naughty individual deserving some harsh punishment yet the punishment was amended to be less severe due to the person's level of status. It would suit Setne. Can't destroy the body of the pharaoh's beloved son even if he is a criminal. He would receive mummification upon death yet the priests would likely botch the mummification on purpose to prevent him from joining with his body as a Ba."

"Looks like he died in pain." I noticed.

"Yes. If I remember the myth about Setne. Thoth ordered his execution for stealing the book of Thoth in life, but because he admired Setne's hunger for knowledge, he allowed him to take his own life as an act of pity. It is to be believed that Setne hung himself rather than choose poison. The marks on the neck consist of hanging. He suffocated rather than have his neck snapped. This is him, Carter."

* * *

_Author's Note: Welcome to all new followers and favorites. Next Week is Sadie's POV and you can finally see what has become of her. I know some of you have been messaging me, begging for some hints ;).She is in a hell of sorts. _

_Forgot to mention last week that I got picked to be a trial admin on a Percy Jackson page on Facebook. A few of my new followers are thanks to that. I'm hoping I get to stay but we'll see. So, yeah. Stop on by and say hi. It's "with great power, comes great need to take a nap-Nico Di Angelo."_

_First time that all my reviewers have an account on so I don't have any reviews to address on here._. _But anywho, reviews are much appreciated. I answer then all directly._


	16. Chapter 16: I Am Taken Hostage

**Sadie**

* * *

_(") I'm going to kill my brother. First he lets Setne kidnap me and then he doesn't come for me. Worst brother of the year award right here. .(")_

After Setne kidnapped me, he dumped me in the Land of the Demons. Now , the last time I was here, I loved the place. I saved Carter and Zia from Setne's trap. _(")_ _Thank you very much. (")_Then Carter and I walked the path down through the middle of the sea of Chaos. We found the first piece of dirt, ever. _(") Yay(") _Then we took the spirit of Apophis and bound it to his statue to complete our spell as save the world. _(") Total selfie moment.(") _ After all that, I wanted to vacation here. I wanted to remember all the good times we had and our merry little trip back to the surface, running over monsters and demons in Bes's limo while I called out points for hits and Carter screamed like a girl. _(")Epic.(")_

Setne, the evil Casper had me tied up and gagged in a cave. Just peachy. He placed two guards in front of me to watch me. I've seen some weird monsters before. The difference between monsters and demons is that monsters look less human than demons. Monsters are typically easier to kill.

Setne kept bragging to me about how he was going to use Carter to become living. "My spies are watching every move he makes. First, the demons will locate my body and free it from that infernal display. Then they'll bring it to me. Your brother will lead me to the tomb of Osiris where he can learn the spell. Then he can use it to force my Ba back into my body and my Ka will return. I will be living again. Once I'm alive, I won't be limited anymore. I will be able to recite every spell from the Book of Thoth. I will be a God. My power will be limitless. I will have Serapis take apart those silly Greek and Roman gods until only our gods exist. Then they will choose their own fate. Bow and accept me as the true ruler of the universe or be wiped from the memory of the world. They believe gods can't die but I assure you, Sadie Kane. Gods can die nearly as easily as mortals. Immortality is a trick of magic. One of Isis's early spells. Spells have loopholes. Immortality can be removed as easily as it is applied. Isis herself has killed many gods by removing their immortality and stealing away their power while they draw their last breath. Serapis wishes her for his wife. I will spare her if she accepts my rule and can make me immortality so great that not even she can undo it."

I waited for the evil genius laugh I've started to come to expect from psycho men attempting to rule the world. I waited but no Muwhahahaha or is it mwuahahahaha? I don't bloody know the proper way to do the evil yet. How sad. I'm sure Set could do it. Perhaps I should ask him next time we have a chat. Disappointed with the lack of evil laugh, Setne walked off to check the status of his minions. That's another thing. Why do the evil beings of the world get minions and we don't? I know Carter asked this before but it really grates on my nerves. We need a 1-800 henchmen phone-line or something just to keep up with Set and Apophis and now Setne. Oh joy.

* * *

I struggled against my bonds. The stupid Ribbons of Hathor were wound up around my hands and feet, making me feel like I just escaped from prison. The pink ropes looked ridiculous paired with my clothes and the red streaks in my hair. The least Setne could do was make them match. Especially since he is such a diva when it comes to things like fashion sense and coordinating colors and patterns. He would do well at BAG I think. Perhaps Drew would adopt him into her posse of well dressed psychotic maids in waiting. Of course, they will never get their day to shine if Drew has her way. She'll never let them possibly upstage her.

I tugged at the pink ribbon and it secured itself tight against my wrists. Drats. I tugged again and it tightened harder than before. He enchanted the ribbons beyond their original magic. Figures. At least I could possible remove my own gag…._(") Hey, that could work… A word of power. Any word. Hmmmm.(") _Destroy..Boundary? Fist of Horus sounded good but I couldn't summon anything from Horus on a normal day. Summoning power when you're stressed usually backfires unless the god offers their aid willingly. So I'm stuck asking Isis for help. Cheery.

I rubbed my face against my shoulder a few times to loosen the gag and help pull it down from my mouth. Fabric tastes terrible. The gag fell down under my chin and I breathed in the fresh air. Now then, time to break free. I tried to chew on it ribbons on my back. Either Hathor favored Setne or the ribbons were chew and spit proof. No luck there. I tried to remember all that Zia told me about the Ribbons of Hathor. Recharge time of one year. Used to bind gods or other powerful creatures. One thing Zia did mention, the ribbons only held as long as the power of the casting magician lasted.

If I could wear down Setne's power then I had a chance of defeating the bonds and making a break for it. That would require my most valued skills; trashtalking and bluffing.. "Oy! Setne."

* * *

He whirled around and marched up to me. "Say something, doll?"

"Yeah. Let me go, this is a waste of your time."

"How so?'

"Carter is not going to come for me, Setne. He would choose to stop Serapis instead. He has the crown of Ptolemy and he is running out of time. We have two days left to stop him. Carter would not waste the effort of rescue on me when there is a world in danger. "

He attempted to smile at me which just looked like a creepy twist of a sneer and scream. "Well, doll. There is the matter of Serapis to deal with however, you and I both know that Carter would never leave even the annoying, little sister in any danger to run off to save the world. You should give your brother more credit, doll."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't know us as well as you think , dude. Carter knows the god…problem is more important than me. He has plenty of time to come save me before dealing with you. Serapis is he big threat, you're just a little kid that found his dad's gun and thinks he can use it to take over the world. Serapis is twice as smart as you, a great deal more power. He basically called you a loser in Rockaway. Said that you had no power compared to him, that you didn't even truly understand what waking him meant." I scoffed. "You stupid fool, who wakes up a powerful god without knowing that you can control them?"

Setne's face twisted like he was trying to swallow a spicy pepper. "You dare!?"

"I Do! You think you're better than the other magicians? That you're stronger than Serapis? Prove it! Put up or shut up."

He raised his hand and spoke a spell. "Khefa." A fist the size of refrigerator appeared and smacked into the nearest cache of demons. They flew backwards like being hit by a bowling ball, and vaporized on the rocks. Next, Setne pointed at a evading flock of birds high in the steaming air and called my favorite spell. "Ha-Di." Instantly the birds imploded like they'd swallowed firecrackers. One big boom and there was nothing more than the remnants of birdy glitter. Perhaps the pixie dust that helped them fly.

Setne looked back at me, grinning. "Serapis has power, that is why I raised him from the Duat but I assure you, I also have the power to contain him and bend his power to my will."

I smirked. _(") Sure, he does.(") _He looked confident enough but I could see the weakness in his eyes. The beads of sweat popping out on his forehead. I could see how truly exhausted he really was and how hard he was trying to hide it. What was it Annabeth had said on Rockaway Beach? _(When weak, act strong(")_ Setne was simply acting.

* * *

Carter always said I could act pretty well when I wanted something. Two can play this game, Setne. Channeling all I knew about scared little girls in movies, I looked away, trying to feign sadness and despair. I wanted him to think I'd roll over and play dead so I conjured up the most painful memory that I possessed. Surprisingly it wasn't Mom's death, that I could barely remember. Or Dad's…accident?. That I've learned to cope with, but in reality, the worst memory I had was being left in London as a kid. I thought of the night Mom died and how broken up Dad had been but fortunately my age prevented it from being a moment of horror. You can't scream about the world ending if you are unaware that it is. Carter and I had been more or less, grounded upstairs in the flat while Dad and Gramps had the Great Spatula War. Carter got to sneak a peek at that but again, I had been tucked away out of sight. No, the horrible moment of my Epic life was being stuck in that flat while my family left.

Gran explained to me that I would be living with them from now on and Dad and Carter hugged me goodbye. I remember running out the door, trying to chase after them, calling for them to wait for me. Gramps chased after me, pulling me back as a car was coming. He scooped me up, back into the flat as I was screaming my head off, yelling for Dad. I focused on that feeling of betrayal and instantly my eyes watered, _(") Ha, take that, Setne.(")_

He placed his hand on my shoulder for a split second and left. _(") Sucker.(") _ Glancing at my bonds, It was easy to see that the red ribbons had turned pink and were still fading. Setne had used too much magically energy showing off and the bonds weren't much good anymore. I pulled my arms close to me and faked sobbing. The shaking of my body masked the attempt to pull off the bonds. They tightened in the effort but soon vanished in an instant. I checked the nearby guards and found them busy. Perfect.

* * *

I got to my feet and took off. I reached into the Duat's layers and pulled out my staff. A small number of demons ran after me and I turned them into a herd of frogs. From the previous times, I know which way the river was. Running due East, I found the river with very little trouble, thanks to Bes's tire tracks from our previous skirmish.

Every so often, I would look back and blast the monsters into various lizards or pests. I admit it, I was feeling pretty good about myself at this point until I reached the river and found myself surrounded by uncross able sea and some monsters blocking my path in every direction. Now is the moment when my memory decides to work and tell me that Carter and I met the sun boat on its nightly journey down the river of night. We had gotten lucky, catching the boat. Now I needed all the luck in the world and even if I got it, I doubt I could survive to the right time to catch a ride. Lucky me.

"You're stuck little girl."

I turned and found a vaguely human looking demon taunting me.

"Well?" He asked. "You can't take us all down. Come back with us or take your chance with the Phlegethon then."

I blanched. _(") The River was made of spit? __(")_

I almost laughed. True, I couldn't take them all down but...I could possibly get away.

I needed a backup plan. I looked at the water and thought of the time our group had visited Mexico. We had defeated Sekhmet with salsa. We took down Sobek with a cat goddess and we called upon a river goddess for advice. River goddess. Hmmm. Nephthys helped us once before, maybe she'd be inclined to do it again. Worth a shot. Before I lost my nerve, I blasted the demon into dust and jumped into the river of fire.

* * *

_Author's Note: _

_First off, I apologize for being late. My dog's health has taken a turn for the worst this week and it kept me from writing. This chapter is a bit shorter than usual but I had to cut it off before I gave away too much._

_I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween._

_Trial for the Trial Admins ends today so I have no idea yet on whether I'll stay on the page. If not, It was kinda fun being surrounded by other Percy Jackson fans._

_Next Week is Annabeth's POV. Again, I'm terribly sorry for the lateness. _


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